Chocolates for a Fox
by Sabaku no Kyuubi
Summary: It's Valentines Day in the Village of Konoha, and one Hinata Hyuuga is finally ready to admit her feelings. Will she be turned down, or will a certain blonde Jinchuuriki surprise her? NaruxHina, of course.
1. Chapter 1

Valentine Day had finally come to the village of Konoha. There stood Hinata Hyuuga, right outside the door of Naruto's room, a box of homemade chocolates in her hands. Ready to face Naruto with her true feelings, she reached for the doorbell.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke walked out of the Hokage's office, both looking rather exhausted.

"Naruto, I can't believe you screwed up such a simple mission." Sasuke said facing the blonde haired orange jump suited boy. " We had it in the bag, at least until you threw that kunai with the paper bomb on it. Because of you, we lost the target."

"Oh shut up already. Don't you think I feel bad enough as it is?" Naruto crossed his arms and stared at the ground as they walked.

"Oh well. At least Tsunade wasn't too bent out of shape over it. But still, I can't believe that happened. I didn't spend 3 years at Orochimaru's to make stupid mistakes like that."

Sasuke had returned to Konoha a year and a half earlier, but almost didn't since the people saw him as a traitor for leaving the village for Orochimaru. Tsunade had forgiven him though, and he was allowed to come back, but people still stared at him everywhere he went. Since then, he had advanced to the Jonin level along with Naruto, who was now one of his closest friends.

"Oh well. Nothing can be done about it now, so let's just head home." Naruto said as his stomach growled. "Hmm, sounds like its ramen time."

"Naruto, how do you survive on noodles alone?" Sasuke said with a laugh. Hey started talking after that, and their conversation carried into town, where they saw something odd.

"Hey, aren't there an awful lot of couples walking around today?" Naruto said as he looked around. There were couples walking up and down the Konoha streets, some with bouquets, and others walking arm in arm with their heads on their partner's shoulders.

"Yeah, you're right. There are a lot of them." Sasuke said. Suddenly, a thought struck him like a kunai to the forehead. "Naruto, what's the date today? We've been out of the village for a few days, so I haven't been keeping track."

"Well then, how the hell should I know?" Naruto said a little angrily. They may have been best friends, but they still got on each other's nerves sometimes." Hey, there's a calendar." The two of them walked over to it and took a look.

" Oh great. That's just what I need on my first day off in a while." Sasuke said, with that familiar somber attitude of his.

"What, what's wrong?" Naruto said, not getting what was being said.

"It's Valentine's Day you dope. I'm going to get back to my house, and I'll be swarmed by admirers. They just don't seem to get that I like Sakura." Since his return, Sasuke had also developed feelings for his rose haired teammate. He had also told her how he felt, and things had been going steady with them ever since. Many girls still couldn't believe that he had chosen Sakura. He looked over at Naruto, who looked a little down. "Hey what's up?"

"Oh it's nothing," Naruto said. This was a lie of course. Naruto had like Sakura for a long time, but he knew once she got together with Sasuke that his chances with her had gone down the drain. "Hey, I'm gonna get going." He started to walk off.

"Alright then. I'll see you later." Sasuke said, after which he jumped onto the nearest roof and jumped off toward the main Uchiha house. Naruto, though, stayed on the ground, silently walking toward home with many thoughts flowing through his head.

"Man, Valentine's Day, and I'm by myself. That's just bad. Even Sasuke has a girlfriend, and he used to be the most emotionless person in the village." This one thought came back to the front of his mind many times as he walked toward his place, staring at the ground as he went. He was a little jealous of the fact, but he accepted it. He was so caught up in is thoughts that he almost walked past the building where he lived. When he got to his room, something caught his eye. His mailbox was open, and something was sitting inside.

"What the heck? That's weird. Nobody I know sends me mail." He reached inside and pulled out the little package. A note was attached to the package. Naruto pulled it off, and opened it to see what it said. The note read "Happy Valentines Day Naruto." Just that. No name, no address, just the short message.

"Hmm. Wonder who it's from?" Naruto thought as he unwrapped the little package. A small box was in it. Naruto took off the lid, and was greeted by the sweet smell of chocolate. Small, flower shaped chocolates sat arranged around a small chocolate heart that set in the middle of the box.

"Someone sent me Valentine's chocolates…" Naruto thought in disbelief. He stood there in the hall for a while, absorbing this fact.

* * *

At a small Konoha café, Sakura and Sasuke sat at a table outside. Both of them had a cup of coffee at their place. However, both cups were still full, even though they had been there for a while. The two of them were caught up in the conversation that they had started when they got there.

"So he screwed it up that badly?" Sakura said, trying to sound surprised, even though she wasn't.

"Yeah he screwed up that badly," Sasuke said in an exasperated voice. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with Naruto. He's still a bit of a screw up, even though he's a Jonin."

"He's just like Kakashi, at least the perverted clumsy side of him," Sakura said with a giggle.

"Where is Kakashi anyway?" Sasuke asked. " He said he wanted to talk when we got back.

"Last time I saw him was earlier, before you came to get me. He was walking down the street, with Anko holding onto his left arm and leaning on him."

Sasuke had just decided to take a drink at this time, but because of what she said, he nearly choked on his coffee. Coughing he said, "Well, that's unexpected." Suddenly, he got a chill up the back of his neck. "Sakura, I suggest you pick up your coffee, now." She looked at him for a second then picked up her cup. As she got the cup over her lap, Naruto landed on the table, out of breath and looking exhausted. The table couldn't take the force that he landed with, and without warning it collapsed under him.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" Sasuke asked taking a sip of his coffee.

Naruto was still getting up, and was about to say something, at least before Sakura punched him over the head, and, in a rather angry tone, said "NARUTO!!!!"

"Ow! What was that for?" Naruto asked as he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

"IT'S FOR DROPPING IN LIKE AN IDIOT!!!" Sakura yelled. They were starting to cause a scene, because many people were staring at them.

Sasuke quickly noticed the problem and said, "Maybe we should take this somewhere else." He set his coffee cup on the shattered remains of the table on the ground and left. Sakura and Naruto followed closely behind him. Once they were around the nearest corner, and out of sight Sasuke asked, "All right, what's going on?" He sounded annoyed.

"It's about this," Naruto said holding up the note he had gotten earlier.

Both Sasuke and Sakura looked over the note, and Sakura said, " What about it?"

"I was hoping one of you would know who wrote it." Naruto said.

"Why, did you get Valentine's chocolates?" Sasuke said jokingly. He knew Naruto never got any, but Naruto turned red at the remark and looked at the ground. Sasuke felt like he'd been slapped. "You got Valentine's chocolate!?" Sakura looked like she was in shock at the remark.

"Yeah, and good ones too. Here, try one," Naruto said holding up the box of chocolate flowers. Sasuke took one and so did Sakura. Both took a small bite, and they were met by a smooth, creamy taste that made their taste buds dance.

"Mmm. That's delicious," Sakura said as she finished her piece. " It tastes like it's homemade too."

"Really?" Naruto said, not the least bit surprised.

"Really." Sasuke said. "I've never had store bought chocolate that tasted that good."

" I kind of figured," Naruto said angrily. "So do you know who wrote the note or not?" He sounded a little impatient.

"No, sorry." Sasuke said.

Naruto slumped a little and said, " Thanks anyway. I'll see you guys later." With that, he jumped onto the nearest roof and took off.

"How likely do you think it is that he will search the entire village for the person who wrote that note?" Sakura said as she watched him go.

" I would have to say that it is very likely," Sasuke said.

* * *

Sure enough, from the time he met with Sasuke and Sakura to sunset, Naruto ran around the entire village trying to find somebody who could identify the author of the note. By the time he finished, he was so tired that he wanted to drop, and was so hungry that he thought he was going to die. He walked into the ramen shop and sat down, thankful to be off his feet.

"What can I get you," The cook behind the counter said.

"One order of ramen with barbequed pork," Naruto said putting his head down.

"Naruto, is that you?" a voice said on his right. It was Lee. Naruto had sat down next to Lee, Tenten, and Neji, but had been so tired that he hadn't noticed them.

"Oh, hey you guys," Naruto said sitting up.

"Man, what happened to you?" Tenten asked through a mouthful of noodles. "You look like you've been sent through a tornado."

"I've been running around all day, searching for something," he said, setting his head down in his arms.

"What the heck is so important that you would search for it all day?" Lee said going back to his bowl of noodles. Naruto held up the note to show it to them, but he kept his head on the counter. Lee took the note and looked it over. "Oh, I see. You want to find the person who wrote this note."

"Well no duh," Naruto said in an annoyed tone. "Wouldn't you what to find out who gave you a box of Valentines chocolates?"

"Let me see that," Tenten said, ripping the note out of Lee's hands. When she finished inspecting the note, she said, "You think they would at least leave their name for you, unless of course it's a prank."

Neji decided to speak up for the first time since Naruto arrived. "I don't think it's a prank. May I take a look at that note?" Tenten gave him the note. Taking only a short glance, he said, "I thought so. This note was written by Lady Hinata."

"Hinata?!" Naruto said, jerking up and looking at Neji. "Are you sure about that? She doesn't seem like the type to-."

"I assure you Naruto, it was definitely her. I could never mistake her handwriting."

"Well, there you go Naruto. Problem solved and answered. Now for some water." Lee said reaching for a glass of clear liquid.

"Wait Lee, don't!!! That's not water! It's-." Too late. The sake was down his throat before Tenten could say another word. He slumped in his seat, then jumped up and started trashing the place, completely drunk. Neji and Tenten went to stop him, but Naruto stayed in his seat.

"Hinata gave me those chocolates." The thought echoed in his mind, over and over again. He wasn't sure what he should do. He liked Hinata as a friend, but thoughts of love had never occurred to him. Did he like Hinata like that? Does she really like him? Questions pounded into his mind like raindrops from a thunderstorm. Completely forgetting about his ramen, he left the shop in a daze, arriving at home before he even realized it. As he got ready for bed, the same question popped into his head over and over again. Did he like Hinata as more than a friend? Before he drifted off to sleep, he thought to himself, "I've got to figure this out." As he drifted into sleep, Kyuubi stirred in him, also wondering about the answer to that question.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note and intro:

Hi, i'm Sabaku no Kyuubi, and welcome to chapter two of my fiction, "Chocolates for a Fox." To all of my returning readers, glad you like it enough to keep reading, and to anyone new to the story, i hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way, shape or form. Trust me, if i did, i wouldn't be writing this, i would be rolling in cash right now, and Naruto would have hooked up with Hinata in the series a long time ago.

* * *

It was the day after Valentines Day. Hinata Hyuuga woke up early, thoroughly disappointed with herself. She sat up in her bed and stared at the end of it. "Why couldn't I do it," she thought to herself as she stared off into space. "I was right there and I couldn't do it. I wanted him to know how I felt, but I got scared and ran away." She brought her knees to her chest and buried her face in them. A small knock came from her door. Lifting her head from her knees she said, "Come in." Her father Hiashi Hyuuga walked through the door and into the room. "Oh, hello father." She didn't get up, but she took a normal sitting position. Hiashi walked to her bed and sat down beside her.

"Hinata my dear, is something the matter?" Concern filled his voice. "Last night, it seemed like something was weighing heavy on your mind."

"Nothing is wrong father," she said looking him in the face. Her hand moved to her mouth as it always did when she was nervous.

"Hinata, my Byakugan eyes may be able to see everything, but I don't need to use them to see that there is something wrong."

With that statement, Hinata decided that she wouldn't be able to hide the truth to her father. So, she started explaining what had happened. She told him how she had gone to the home of the boy she liked, planning to give him chocolates and tell him how she felt. She didn't dare say who the boy was, for she knew that her father did not approve of Naruto. She told about how she had gone to ring his doorbell, but had gotten scared of how the boy would react, so she left the chocolates in the mailbox and left.

"I see," Hiashi said when she had finished. " Well, I'm not sure what to say, but I know what you should do. You must confront this boy. See how he really feels before you do anything else." Hinata looked up at him, and he gave her a small, fatherly smile.

"You're right father, I'll go find him now." She jumped out of bed, heading towards the bathroom with a fresh set of clothes and a smile on her face.

"Hmm, she must really like this boy." Hiashi thought, rubbing his chin. "I'll have to find out who it is."

* * *

Naruto sat on one of the lowest branches in a large tree. A blank expression covered his face, making it look like he was sleeping with his eyes open. He had been there for most of the morning, staring up at the sky with the same blank expression. Thoughts of Hinata had been dancing through his head the entire time. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Sasuke appear right in front of him, sticking to the side of the tree by the chakra in his feet.

Sasuke took a deep breath and yelled into Naruto's ear, " Hey Naruto, wake up!!" He surprised Naruto so much that he fell out of the tree and hit the ground with a dull thud. Sakura was standing at the foot of the tree where Naruto landed.

"That should've done the trick," she said as Naruto picked himself up. Sasuke appeared at he side almost instantly. Naruto looked like he was ready to kill them both.

"Why the hell did you do that?!" he yelled.

"It's called worry for a reason," Sakura said while Naruto brushed off loose bits of grass and dirt.

"Yeah. You didn't even show up for training with Kakashi this morning." It was a fact that Naruto never missed a training session for any reason. "It's not like you."

"I just had a lot of stuff on my mind." He tried to sound convincing, but apparently it didn't work.

"You missed training because you were thinking," Sakura said sounding thoroughly unconvinced. " I don't buy it. What's really going on?" She looked him right in the eye when she said it, and right then Naruto was glad that she couldn't read minds because thoughts of Hinata had just jumped back into the front of his.

What's going on is that he's found out who gave him those Valentines chocolates." Sasuke said.

"What? Really? Who was it?" Sakura said getting awfully close to his face. Naruto's mouth just twitched for a second, then he spotted something behind Sakura, and jumped back into the tree, hiding in the branches just as a new voice spoke up.

"Hello Sakura, Sasuke. How have you two been?" Hinata asked from behind her. Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Oh, hello Hinata. We've been fine. How about you?" Sasuke said in his usual calm and casual voice.

"I'm fine. Hey, have either of you seen Naruto today?" Hinata looked hopeful as she asked.

"Actually, he's-," Sakura said, before Sasuke put a hand over her mouth.

"No we haven't seen him yet today. If we see him we'll be sure to tell him that you are looking for him." Sasuke said in the coolest, calmest voice you had ever heard.

"Oh. Okay. Thanks you guys." Hinata said, slightly disappointed. "I'll see you later." Hinata ran off, and once she was out of earshot, Sakura decided it was time to yell at Sasuke.

"Why did you do that?! You know full well that Naruto is in this tree!" She was a little angry.

"I did it because Naruto doesn't want her to find him." Sasuke said.

"What do you mean he… Oh, I see." She rounded on Naruto as his feet hit the ground.

"She's the one who sent the chocolates isn't she?" Naruto could get out of answering now, so he just nodded. Sakura squealed at the nod and said, "That's great. She'd be perfect for you Naruto. But wait, why did you hide from her then?"

Naruto blushed at the question, mainly because of embarrassment. Finally he said, "

Because I'm not sure of how I feel about her yet. Now I have to go. See you guys later."  
Without another word he headed off.

"He doesn't know how he feels about her yet? I figured that he would fall for any girl who gave him a present," Sakura said.

"You forget," Sasuke said watching Naruto jump from building to building. " Naruto grew up alone. He never even had a mother's love, let alone the love of another girl. He has no idea what to do in this type of situation. He's probably confused out of his head right now."

"Okay, when you put it that way, I can see why he said that. Still, he needs to face her eventually. He can't run forever."

* * *

Naruto was back in a tree, but this time he was outside the walls of Konoha where he wouldn't be disturbed.

"Kyuubi, are you there?" he asked in his mind. The spirit of the nine tailed fox stirred in his stomach.

"**You know very well that I'm here. And I already know what you are going to ask. You want to know what you should do about Hinata.**"

"How did you know?" He hadn't said anything to Kyuubi all day.

"**I'm stuck in your body, so I can hear your thoughts. Now listen kit, I'm the type that you come to when the situation is a fight, but when it comes to matters of love, you are on your own**." The fox drifted back to sleep after that.

"Fat load of help you were," Naruto said to himself. "Why did I hide from Hinata earlier? It was like I was afraid of her." His stomach tightened at thoughts of Hinata, and it felt hard for him to breath. His face turned red at the thought of being around her. "Am I in love with her?" The thought popped into his head, and he knew that he couldn't deny the fact anymore. He was in love with Hinata. He got back up and headed back to the village.

He was really nervous now. As he headed back to the village he calmed down a little, but not much. Somehow, he regretted what he was about to do, but at his point he didn't seem to care.

* * *

Hinata walked into the ramen shop. She spotted Kiba sitting with Shikamaru and Ino, and took up the seat next to him. Upon sitting down she laid her head down in her arms, completely exhausted.

"Hinata, what's up with you?" Kiba asked.

" Yeah, you don't look so good," said Ino through a mouthful of noodles. Shikamaru just kept eating, not caring even a little bit.

"Oh, I'm okay. I'm just tired. I've been looking for Naruto all day is all. I can't find him anywhere.

"Isn't he out on a mission with Sasuke?" Ino said looking at Shikamaru with a raised eyebrow.

"How the heck should I know?" he said pausing in the middle of a bite.

"No, they're back. I saw Sasuke with Sakura earlier and asked them if they had seen Naruto, but they said that they hadn't." Hinata said.

"Of course they didn't!" said Kiba.

"That's right!" Ino said looking at Hinata. "Sasuke is Naruto's best friend, and Sakura is Sasuke's boyfriend." Her eye twitched a little at the last part. " Those two would cover for him for anything, even if it meant their lives. So what did he do to you then?"

"Oh, he didn't do anything to me," Hinata said waving her hands a little as she said it. "There's just something that I wanted to ask him."

"What the heck would you want to ask Naruto?" Kiba asked, looking at Hinata. The bell on the door dinged, catching Kiba's attention. "Well speak of the devil, there he is now."

Hinata turned around to see Naruto walking in the door of the shop. He was halfway to the counter when Hinata met him.

"Oh hey Hinata," said Naruto, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Naruto," she said turning a little red. "There's something that I need to ask you." She looked at the floor as she said it. At the counter, Kiba, Ino, and even Shikamaru, watched the two with interest.

"Before you do that, there is something that I need to tell you." Naruto said, his cheeks turning a rosy pink color. An embarrassed look appeared on his face.

"What is it Naruto?" Hinata asked, looking him straight in the eyes. This eye contact did not last long though. Before Hinata could say another word, Naruto bent down and kissed her on the lips.

Behind her, Kiba spat some water that he had been drinking, Ino choked on her noodles, and Shikamaru froze in mid chew, dropping his chopsticks.

They parted after several seconds, and Naruto ran out of the door. Hinata stood there frozen, cheeks red as a cherry, and her right hand touching her bottom lip.

* * *

Author's note:

And that's chapter two people. Sorry i didn't make it longer, but i wanted to end it with a shocker, at least for Hinata.Hope ya enjoyed it. The next Chapter will be up soon, hopefully. I've been pretty busy lately.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is finally here. Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Wish i did though.

* * *

Naruto was lying on the roof of the building that he lived in. A full moon was in the sky, shining brightly down on the landscape. His hands were behind his head, supporting it while he stared up at the moonlit sky.

"Aw dammit! Why the hell did I go and do that?!" He screamed inside his head. "Okay, just calm down. There are at least two possibilities. One is that she likes me, and that would make it okay, but then if she doesn't like me, then I'll never be able to face her again!!!!" He got up and whacked himself on the head a few times. Suddenly, Sasuke appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey, I heard what happened. All that I have to say is damn. I didn't think that you would do something like that." He sounded impressed.

Naruto was so surprised by Sasuke's arrival and what he said that he himself nearly fell off the roof. "How the hell did you find out?!" Naruto asked, regaining the balance that he had lost when he had gotten up.

"That would be Sakura. She's the one who told me," Sasuke said, giving a small smile.

"How did she find out?!" Naruto asked, still a little shocked.

"Ino told her." Sasuke said calmly. "And Kiba told Shino, and Shikamaru told Choji and Asuma. Then Shino told Neji and his team, while Asuma told Kakashi, Anko, Kurenai, and Guy about it. Naruto, the news that you kissed Hinata is spreading like wildfire. I bet that Tsunade will know about it before morning."

"Neji heard about it? Great, I bet he's having a fit about that!" Naruto said crossing his arms.

"Actually, he took it pretty well. Somehow, I think that he was expecting something like this was going to happen. He even told me one time that Hinata liked you."

Naruto's ears twitched at the last sentence. Suddenly he went from sitting down to being in Sasuke's face within about two seconds. "What did you say?"

"I said that Neji once told me that Hinata liked you. What, you didn't know?" Sasuke asked. Naruto hadn't noticed the question though.

"Hinata likes me. She really likes me." The same thoughts echoed over and over again, making Naruto's heart beat harder than any drum. His eyes glazed over, as he thought of her, so timid and beautiful, like a small flower in a grassy field. The world around him almost ceased to exist as he went into this trance like state.

"Hey, earth to Naruto, are you there?" Sasuke said waving a hand in front of Naruto's face. Naruto snapped out of his state immediately, leaving behind his thoughts of Hinata. "You need to stop doing that. One of these days you are going to zone out, and it might just cost you dearly."

"Uh huh," Naruto said barely letting the words register in his mind. "Hey Sasuke, I'll see you later, okay?"

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked with a little grin on his face.

"That's none of your business," Naruto said in a childish tone. After that, Naruto took off across the rooftops, moving so fast that Sasuke had trouble keeping up with him.

"He's probably going to find Hinata." Sasuke thought with a smile. "That's the only natural thing that he would do, but still, why am I getting such a bad feeling about this?"

The wind blew, whipping Sasuke's hair around as leaves flew by his face, giving him an even more ominous feeling.

* * *

Kakashi, Anko, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai were sitting at a corner table in the local bar. Several bottles of Sake were sitting in the center of the table, and several shot glasses were sitting in front of each Jonin. Gai's cheek were already turning a little red, and they had just gotten there not long before. They were laughing and discussing the news that Asuma had just heard from Shikamaru.

"I still can't believe that he did it," Kakashi said, taking another shot of sake. His mask was off, revealing his smooth face. "I never knew that Naruto had it in him. It must be all that time he spent with me."

"Oh sure," Anko said leaning on him. "The most that you ever did when he was with you was read those perverted books." She decided to be bold too, because she leaned up and kissed him. After they disconnected she said, "They aren't that bad though." Everyone at the table laughed at that point.

"I never even thought he would do something like that," Kurenai said. "I know that he's quick to attack on the battlefield, but I figured that he would at least be a little cautious when in came to the game of love."

"Hey he still did it," Asuma said, lighting up a cigarette. " And that's all that counts."

"It makes me happy to know that our students are growing up so fast," Gai said with a little tear in his eye. His face was now so red that they were surprised he hadn't fallen over yet. "If Naruto was capable of that, then maybe there is hope for Lee too."

"What, Lee hasn't found a girl yet," Kakashi said, laughing a little. "He's more like you than I thought." Everyone burst out laughing at this point, even Gai. All of a sudden, a new voice sounded, making the laughter die down a little.

"Hello Kakashi, Anko, Kurenai, Asuma, Gai. What's all the commotion about?" Hiashi Hyuuga asked as he walked over to the table.

"Well hello Hiashi," Kakashi said, raising his uncovered eyebrow in surprise. "This is a surprise. We almost never see you away from the Hyuuga estate."

"Yes, well, I figured that it was a good night to get out of the house." Hiashi said with a small smile.

"And what a beautiful night it is," Anko said, putting an arm around Kakashi's neck. "Come on Hiashi, join us for a drink, won't you?"

Hiashi decided not to argue; because even though he was stronger than Anko, once she got like this it was best not to mess with her. Also, it had been a while since he had gone out, so he figured why not make the most of it. He sat down with them and had a few shots. Before long, he was laughing and joking along with the rest of them. The six of them were having a grand time.

All of a sudden, Kakashi said, "Hey Hiashi, have you heard the news."

"What news?" Hiashi asked sounding a little confused.

"Well isn't that surprising. We figured that it would have made its way straight to you since it involved your daughter." Kurenai said it with a smile on her rosy face.

"What about my daughter?" Hiashi asked sounding even more confused, and a little worried at this point. But then he thought, " Wait, if it was bad news, then they wouldn't be acting like this."

"Well, from what Shikamaru told me," Asuma said. " He and Ino had been having ramen with Kiba, when Hinata came into the shop looking exhausted."

"Apparently, she had been out looking for Naruto most of the day," Kakashi said, taking over the story.

" She'd been looking for Naruto?" Hiashi asked, making sure that he had heard right.

"Yeah, Naruto." Kakashi repeated. "Anyway, she was about to go looking for him again when he walked in the door of the shop. She met him halfway across the floor, saying that she needed to ask him something."

"Okay. How is that big news?" Hiashi asked.

"Not that. What happened next is the big news," Kakashi said as Hiashi poured himself another shot. " Apparently, Naruto said that there was something that he needed to tell her. And then he kissed her. Right on the lips."

Hiashi did a spit take, covering Gai with sake. Gai didn't really notice though, mainly because he was passed out cold. Coughing, Hiashi asked, "What did you say?!"

"I said Naruto kissed her," Kakashi said as calmly as he had said it before. "Then he ran off, leaving Hinata in the middle of the room, blushing like a cherry."

"I have to go," Hiashi said, getting up very fast. "I've got to find my daughter."

"Aw, why?" Anko asked as he started to leave. "This is perfect. They would make such a cute couple."

"That may be what you think, but I don't share that opinion." Hiashi turned to face them. "I DON'T WANT MY DAUGHTER HAVING ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT FOX CHILD!!!" With that outburst he ran from the bar, all eyes on him as he left.

"Aw hell," Kakashi said getting up. "We have to stop him before he does something drastic. Kurenai, Asuma, take care of Gai. Try to sober him up. Anko and I'll go after Hiashi. C'mon Anko, we've got to go."

Anko nodded, and they ran out of the bar after Hiashi, hoping to catch him before he found either Naruto or Hinata.

* * *

Hinata sat under a tree on the edge of Konoha. Staring up the moon she remembered the moment that had taken placed earlier, when Naruto had kissed her. She blushed at the memory of it. At the same time, though, she wished that she could go back and repeat that moment over again.

"That was the happiest moment of my life," she thought to herself, letting it replay several times in her head. "Why did he do it though? Does he really like me?" She blushed again, thinking of the sweet taste of Naruto's lips. Suddenly, she heard a noise from one of the trees.

"Who's there?" she asked to the darkness as she stood up. A figure jumped down from the trees, and landed in front of her. It was Naruto. He was a little sweaty, and a little short of breath, but it was definitely him.

"Oh, It's you Naruto," Hinata said, blushing slightly. "What brings you here?"

Catching his breath, Naruto said, "There's something that I need to say." Hinata's mind jumped back to earlier, when he had said something similar and ended up kissing her. She turned cherry red again.

"W-w-what is i-it?" Hinata said, trembling a little at the thought of Naruto kissing her a second time. However, this time he embraced her. Hinata's eyes opened wide with surprise.

Naruto swallowed. His mouth was dry, but he still found the word he wanted to say.

Taking a breath, Naruto whispered into Hinata's right ear, saying, "I love you Hinata."

Hinata's eyes, which were already opened very wide, opened even wider. Tears started to well up in her eyes, and she embraced Naruto as well. She buried her head into the shoulder of his jacket.

As Hinata cried tears of happiness into his jacket, she choked out the words, " I love you too, Naruto." She hugged him even tighter, never wanting to let him go.

Suddenly, a new voice sounded, making each of them let go of the other. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY DAUGHTER!!" Hiashi Hyuuga jumped from the nearest tree, Byakugan eyes activated, throwing a punch that landed right in Naruto's chest. Naruto flew back about ten feet and hit the trunk of the nearest tree, pain shooting up his back. Blood dripped from his mouth as he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Naruto!!" Hinata screamed staring at the unconscious form of Naruto. She rounded on her father, screaming, "Why did you do that father!? Why?! I love him! I LOVE HIM!" Hiashi had heard enough. With his right hand, he jabbed Hinata on the side of the neck, making her fall over unconscious.

"Hinata, you will thank me for this someday," He said as his Byakugan deactivated. He picked up his daughter in is arms and jump away, leaving Naruto to bleed from the mouth. Less than 5 minutes later, Kakashi and Anko showed up. They checked him all over, and then took him to the hospital in Konoha. They stayed with him most of the night. The next morning, Gai and the others showed up.

"How's he doing?" Kurenai asked when they entered the room.

"He's fine," Kakashi said looking at Naruto lying in the bed. "He had some broken ribs when he got here, but they are almost healed."

"Man, the power of the nine tailed fox still amazes me," Asuma said. "What happened to him though?"

"As far as we can tell, he was attacked by Hiashi," Anko said from the chair that she was sitting in. "That's all that we could tell."

"Hinata…" Naruto whispered from his bed. "Hinata…I love you."

"He's been like that since we found him, always whispering the same thing," Kakashi said, giving Naruto a look of sadness.

"Hiashi overreacted to the whole thing," Guy said looking at Naruto as well. "He went to far."

"Yeah, he did," Kakashi said. "Now what are we going to do about it?" The five Jonin stood there for a long time, trying to contemplate their next move, all the while Naruto whispered, "Hinata I love you." to the air.

* * *

Author's note:

And that's it for Chapter 3 people. Hope you enjoyed it. If you didn't though, i will hunt you down and rip your face off. Just kidding ;P. Seriously though, i just ignore negative comments.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note:

I know what you're thinking: I didn't have to wait too long before this chapter came out. Well, you're right. This chapter is done. In fact, the whole fictionis done, but i haven't found the time to upload all of it. I promise i'll post it all soon. Until then, here's chapter 4.

Disclaimer: I'm a pour college student, do you really think i would be if i owned Naruto. The correct answer is no.

* * *

The next day, Hinata regained consciousness. She was in the bed in her room. A splitting headache pounded throughout her head, making her wince in pain.

"What happened to me?" she asked herself, groaning in pain. Then an image of the night before flashed into her mind. It was of her and Naruto embracing, and Naruto was whispering, "I love you Hinata" into her ear.

"That's right! Naruto told me that he loved me! And… I told him that I loved him too." She blushed a little as she said it. Then, the angry face of her father burst into her mind with another image of Naruto in pain. "Oh no. Naruto! Father attacked him! I have to find him! I have to know if he is okay!" She got up and ran for her door. She twisted to handle, only to discover that the door was bolted shut. "What's going on?" she thought. "Why am I locked in?" She ran to the window to find that I had been fitted with metal bars, thick enough to hold even the strongest Jonin in.

"Somebody let me out! I have to find Naruto. Please, let me out! PLEASE!" going back to the door, she pounded on it, hoping that somebody would here her. Little did she know there were two guards from the Hyuuga clan on the other side of the door listening to her. Hiashi Hyuuga was with them.

"Listen to me. You are to let no one into this room, and she is not to leave. Understood?" Hiashi was forceful with these orders, making sure that they would be understood.

"Yes sir," the two of them said in unison, bowing quickly and retaking their still positions. Hiashi left them at the door, going down the hall only to find Neji standing around the one corner. "What is it Neji?" Hiashi asked facing his nephew.

"Lord Hiashi, is all this really necessary? I mean, it is just Naruto sir." Neji faced the ground as he said this, but Hiashi heard him loud and clear.

"Yes it is Neji," Hiashi said with command in his voice. "I know very well that I didn't kill that boy, and I know very well that he will come after Hinata. All this is to stop him, and it shall if he comes here. Now get back to your place!"

Hiashi walked off, leaving Neji torn between two things: his duty to the Hiashi and the Hyuuga clan, and his duty to Hinata and his friends.

* * *

In the hospital was starting to come to. Suddenly his eyes burst open, and quickly sat up in the bed. "Hinata!" he shouted as sat up. He looked around to see that he was in an empty hospital room. The windows were open, and a cool morning breeze rolled in, the fresh air caressing his face.

"Hey guys, he's awake," a voice from the door said. Kakashi walked in, followed closely by Sakura and Sasuke.

"Jeez Naruto, how the hell did you end up in here?" Sakura asked as she took a seat by the bed.

"Yeah, you had us worried when we heard that you were in the hospital," Sasuke said.

"What, didn't Kakashi give you guys the details?" Naruto asked, looking from his teacher to his friends. They both shook their heads, showing that they knew absolutely nothing of what had happened. Naruto told them about what happened the night before, after he had left Sasuke standing on the roof. He told them how he had confessed his feelings to Hinata. Sakura squealed at this point, and Sasuke gave him a smile and thumbs up. Then he told them about how it was Hiashi Hyuuga, Hinata's dad, had attacked him.

"Why would he do that?" They both asked him, then Sakura asked, "Doesn't he wants his daughter's happiness?"

"Yes he does," Kakashi said. "However, he doesn't want that happiness to be because of Naruto."

"Why not?" Sakura asked. "What's wrong with Naruto?"

"I think I know what it is," Sasuke said looking to Kakashi. "It's because of the nine tailed fox, isn't it?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, confirming Sasuke's guess. "Hiashi doesn't want Hinata to be with Naruto because of the nine tailed fox that resides within Naruto. Because of it, he sees Naruto as a monster, making him a danger and unworthy of his daughter."

'Where is Hinata now?" Naruto asked suddenly, jumping from the bed. Kakashi stared at him in silenced. Naruto approached him, coming eye to eye with his teacher. "Where is she?"

For a moment it seemed like Kakashi wasn't going to answer him, but then he said, "She's at the Hyuuga estate. From what I could see, they are holding he in her room, with guards posted all around the estate. Hiashi is taking no chances. He doesn't want anyone to get in, and he definitely doesn't want Hinata to get out."

"Well then, let's go get her!" Naruto was angry now. He wanted to be with Hinata, no matter what.

"We can't," Kakashi said sternly. "She's at her home, and if we attack them, then we're the ones who will be doing wrong."

"Then you're saying we can't do anything!" Naruto grabbed Kakashi's vest and lifted him off the ground. "Is that what you're telling me!"

"That's enough," Kakashi said as he put Naruto in a strangle hold. "You're letting your emotions get the better of you. And a good ninja knows that letting that happen could be disastrous for himself and others. You need to calm down!" Naruto struggled for a minute, and then relaxed. Kakashi let him go.

"I'm sorry Kakashi. I need a little time to think." With that statement, he jumped out of the open window, and headed for the outskirts of the village. Sasuke and Sakura followed close behind, just barely keeping pace with him.

"Sometime that boy is hopeless," Kakashi said as he watched the three of them go.  
Naruto reached the outskirts of the village in no time at all. He was by the river where he had first started his ninja training with Kakashi a few years before. Sasuke and Sakura arrived within seconds of Naruto.

"Oh, hey guys. Didn't know you followed me."

"Like hell you didn't," Sakura said to him. "You know very well that we did."

"She's right. You knew we were following, and you probably also knew that we would tell you that this is suicide. You can't take on a whole clan by yourself. You don't know enough jutsu."

"Which is why I have these," Naruto said, holding up a total of three scrolls.

"Where did you get those?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow. Suddenly, a thought dawned on him. "You stole them from Kakashi, didn't' you?" Naruto nodded. "Naruto, those still aren't enough! It's only three jutsu."

"Then get all of our friends together. I need to learn new jutsu, so why not start with theirs and yours." Naruto said. "All that I need to do is see them once, that's all. After that it's all a matter of practice." He said this and smiled.

Sasuke stood there and stared into Naruto's eyes for a minute. In that time, he realized Naruto didn't care if he lost his life. He also realized that if it had been the same case with him and Sakura, then he would have done the same thing that Naruto was about to do now.

"Sakura, go find Ino and the others," Sasuke said to her. She turned to him like she was going to protest, but she didn't. Instead she just nodded, and headed back towards the village. "Naruto, you know this is crazy, right?"

"Hey, what can I tell you? I'm in love," he said to his best friend with a grin.

"If that's the case, then I have chosen the correct side," a voice from one of the trees said. Neji stepped out from behind the nearest tree, arms folded across his chest.

"Neji? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the Hyuuga estate, protecting Hinata?" Naruto asked a little confused.

"I can't be a part of that," Neji said. "It's wrong to keep a girl from the one person she loves most in the world. So I'm here to help train you by fighting you. I am the best that either branch of my clan has to offer, next to Lord Hiashi. If you fight against me, then you shall know everything that you need to."

Naruto stared at him for a second before he said, "Thank you Neji." He shook Neji's hand and said, "All right then, let's get started!"

* * *

An entire day went by, and Hinata remained locked in her room. All the time, she thought of Naruto and whether or not he was all right.

"Naruto," she thought with tears in her eyes. She had been up all night sitting on her bed, thinking of her love. "Are you okay? The tears welled up in her eyes even more. She curled up into a ball, burying her face in her knees. Outside of her door, the two guards could her everything that was going on in the room. Apparently, it was starting to get to them.

"Why are we doing this?" The one guard asked the other. "It seems cruel to do this to her."

"It can't be helped," the second guard responded. "These are Lord Hiashi's orders, and they will be carried out, no matter what we say."

"Yes, but still, why would he do this to his own daughter?" The first guard asked.

"Well, from what I heard, it has to do with Naruto Uzumaki," the second guard.

"You mean the boy possessed by the nine tailed fox?" The first guard was even more curious now.

"That's the one. Apparently…" The guard didn't get to finish his sentence. A very loud boom had just come from the front gate of the estate. Many bells sounded, alerting the entire estate of oncoming danger.

"He's here," a guard shouted from the grounds in front of the Hyuuga's main house. "Everybody, take your positions and prepare for battle!" Many people headed for the grounds, where the estate's front gate now burned from the large explosion that had occurred. Naruto walked through the fire, not even getting singed by the flames.

"I don't know who you think you are," A Hyuuga soldier said. "However, I do know that you should back down now if you don't want to be killed."

"If you are saying that, then you really must not know me very well," Naruto said to him. "I don't ever back down." Using his thumb, he pointed at himself, and said, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I've come for the woman that I love."

* * *

Author's note: and that's it for Chapter 4. Please leave a Review. I enjoy hearing from my readers. 


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: Chapter 5. Hope ya'll enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Seriously, since i'm writing this, do i really need to say that i don't own Naruto?

* * *

There stood Naruto, in front of the ashy remains of the Hyuuga main gate. Having made his proclamation, most of the Hyuuga family stared at him like he was an insane criminal that had escaped from his imprisonment.

"They woman that you love? HA! Don't make me laugh. You shall not make it past us," the guard said to Naruto. This was a very bold statement, on that Naruto planned to prove wrong.

"We'll see about that," Naruto said. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" All at once, he produced about fifty shadow clones, all of them prepared to attack.

"Attack him men!" The man in front shouted. "He must not be allowed to go any further!"

"Go!" Naruto told all of his clones. "Fight them! I'll find Hinata!" With that, they all charged against the approaching onslaught of Hyuuga clan members. As soon as they were close, each of Naruto's clones started to perform a different jutsu.

"Water Dragon Jutsu!" Naruto saw a giant dragon made entirely of water erupt from the pond that sat off to the side of grounds. The sun shined off of it until it came down on about ten Hyuuga soldiers. Now he was glad that he had stolen those scrolls from Kakashi.

All around him, different jutsu were being, taking out many members of the clan. One of the clones was standing stock still against the wall, his shadow connected to the shadows of about five soldiers. Another clone's body lay on the ground, while a Hyuuga soldier attacked his own men with a big smile on his face. Naruto could tell that it was Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu at work. A third one had grown to an enormous size, becoming too large to beat. The rest of them were using various fire jutsus, high-speed taijutsu moves, genjutsu, and some were summoning throwing weapons. Not having time to admire the jutsus that he and his clones had managed to master in less than a day, he ran toward the gates to the house.

"Man, is everybody at the front gate?" Naruto wondered to himself. "There's almost nobody in this house." He was right. All of the people in the clan who could fight were at the front gate, fighting his army of clones and their wide array of jutsus. It did not take long for Naruto to find Hinata's room, for it was the only room that was being guarded, so the two guards that sat outside met him when he got there.

"You shall not pass," the first guard said. "We shall kill you here."

"These guys just don't seem to get it," Naruto thought as he made a few had signs. "Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Naruto unleashed an old, favorite jutsu of Sasuke's, sending flaming shuriken at his unprepared opponents. They dodged each of them easily.

"Boy, if that is all you can do, then you are-." His words were cut short as he was caught by a left hook in the face. That one punch sent him down the hallway, and then through the wall. The man's partner looked at Naruto, fear spread across his face like a veil.

"If you don't want to end up like your friend, then I suggest that you leave." Naruto said as he turned toward the Hinata's bedroom door.

"I can't do that," the man started to say, but a glare from Naruto made him be quiet. The man could see death in Naruto's eyes, ready to extinguish his mortal flame like a candle in a gust of wind. The man ran, stumbling a little, but he ran away nonetheless.

"And here I thought that all Hyuugas were fearless," Naruto thought as he stared after the man running away like a coward. Naruto pounded on the door in front of him. "Hinata, are you in there?" The response was almost immediate.

"Naruto! You're here? Are you okay?" He was hit with a barrage of worried sounding questions from behind the door.

"She must have been so worried about me," Naruto thought as the question kept coming. Finally, Naruto said, "Hinata, calm down a little. I'm fine, I'm fine. You shouldn't worry about me so much."

"I couldn't help it," Hinata sniffed, sounding to Naruto like she was close to tears. "After my father attacked you, I thought you might have…" Her word trailed off, but Naruto knew what she had thought. She had thought that he might have died. Naruto tried to think of how it would feel for him if Hinata died. He couldn't even imagine the pain that she had been feeling, but the mere thought of the event was enough to bring tears to his eyes.

"Stand back Hinata, I'm going to open this door," Naruto said. He heard here move away from the door. He summoned some chakra to his right pointer finger. The chakra extended six inches out of the tip of his finger, and took the shape of a knife. It made it looked like a blue colored blade had been grafted to the end of his finger.

Using this chakra knife, he cut through the locks that were on the outside of the door, as well as the normal door lock. He pushed the door open, and saw Hinata, whose eyes were red and a little swollen from crying. He walked up to her and said, " Now, why all the tears? I'm here and I'm okay. You should be happy."

"I know, but I…" She didn't finish her sentence. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his jacket. "Naruto! Naruto!" she said as she cried. He wrapped his arms around her too.

"Time to go," Naruto said, after they stayed like that for several seconds. They left the room and ran for the front gate. When they got there, they were confronted by a large number of Hyuuga soldiers. All of Naruto's clones were gone, and most of the soldiers remained.

"Dammit. This isn't good," Naruto thought as he looked over the amount of soldiers still left. "Guess I have no choice. I have to use it."

"Hinata," Naruto said, getting her attention. "I want you to grab hold of me, and whatever you do, don't let go." Hinata obeyed, grabbing him around his midsection and squeezing as hard as she could. "I'm going to need some more chakra for this one."

Clearing his mind, he said to the nine tails, "I need some chakra. And a lot of it." The fox obliged, releasing chakra into Naruto's system. Naruto's mind flashed back to the day before, to the conversation that he had occurred between him and his friends.

* * *

FLASHBACK//

"Naruto, where did you learn a jutsu like that?!" Sasuke asked from the top of a tree. His arms were wrapped around the tree, and he was holding onto a kunai that he had stuck into the side of it.

"Well, do you remember all those years ago when I stole the scroll that contained all the forbidden jutsu of the village? I found it in there. I just never got a chance to try it out," Naruto said. He was on the ground, his jacket in shreds, and the area around him was completely dug up. Trees lay on their sides and piles of debris lay scattered everywhere.  
Neji was pulling himself out of a pile of debris, and everyone else was coming out of his or her various hiding places.

"That… was a forbidden jutsu?" Neji asked as he recovered from the vicious attack.

"Small wonder it was forbidden now," Sakura said, looking around. "Look at all the damage it did."

"Naruto, that's a very dangerous jutsu!" Ino said. "What on earth made you decide to learn it?!"

"Hey, I didn't know what it would do!" Naruto said. "I thought it might come in handy if I ever got in a tight spot."

"And that's the only time it should be used." Neji said, wiping a little blood from his cheek." It's too dangerous otherwise. Got it?"

"Got it," Naruto said. Then he and Neji resumed their fight.

// End FLASHBACK

* * *

"I would have to say that this qualifies as a tight spot," Naruto thought. "Hinata, are you ready?"

"Yes," Hinata said as she clung to him like her life depended on it.

"All right, then here I go," Naruto said. He started to perform a complex series of hand signs.

"He's bluffing," one of the soldiers said. "He's got nothing! Get him!" The soldiers started to charge as soon as Naruto finished the series of hand signs. A black, ghost like dragon appeared in the air, and started swirling around him and Hinata creating a small amount of wind. The dragon quickly picked up speed, and the wind started to as well.

"Dragon Twister Jutsu!" Naruto shouted. (A/N: Yes, I used the move from the third Inuyasha movie. If you don't like it, bite me.)

Suddenly, the ghost dragon was moving so fast that it couldn't be seen by the naked eye. A tornado of black wind erupted around Naruto and Hinata, enveloping both of them. The soldiers tried to get away, but the force of the wind was too strong. All of them were sucked into the twister, many of them screaming in terror. The sound of screaming did not last once they entered the twister. The twister lasted for about two minutes, and then simply dispersed, leaving behind the unconscious and bloody bodies of the soldiers. Naruto had seen everything from the eye of the twister. An invisible force had attacked each soldier as the twister spun. Their wounds were not serious, but many of them were either cut up, or had broken limbs.

"Naruto," Hinata said letting go of him. "When did you…?"

"I'll tell you later. Right now, let's just get out of here." Naruto said, grabbing Hinata's hand.

"You're not going anywhere, boy!" a voice said. Hiashi Hyuuga had finally decided to show himself. He stood in front of the gate that Naruto had destroyed earlier, Byakugan eyes activated, and ready to fight.

"You just don't know when to give up, do you old man?" Naruto asked. He let go of Hinata's hand, but she quickly took hold of his hand again.

"Naruto, don't do this!" she pleaded. "He'll kill you."

"No he won't," Naruto said. "Not when I have this jutsu." He turned around to face her, and she gasped at what she saw. The area around Naruto's eyes had become clustered with veins, and his eyes had turned the same light purple color as hers.

"The Byakugan eye," Hinata said. "But you're not a Hyuuga clan member. How did you…?"

"Neji helped me out. He said it would only work for so long, but it would be enough to beat your dad. He also said that I would be able to use any technique that he could," Naruto said grinning. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." He kissed her after he said this, and then walked toward Hiashi.

"Have you said your last to her?" Hiashi asked. "Because now you will die." Taking up his fighting stance, Hiashi faced Naruto. Naruto took the same stance, and then they began to fight. Naruto did very well, despite the fact that he was new at fighting with the Byakugan eye. He could see everything, right down to the chakra network that was visible to all the members of the Hyuuga clan.

"Oh no," Naruto said after a while. "The Byakugan is fading. I have to finish this, and fast." This was easier said than done though, for he had made very little progress. He just wasn't fast enough to keep up with Hiashi.

"Give up boy," Hiashi said. "You can't beat me with my own techniques. You shall die her, and never see my daughter again."

Naruto looked over to where he had left Hinata. She wasn't there. In fact, she had just come up on her father's back so fast that he didn't have time to react. One quick jab was all it took to shut down his chakra flow.

"Hinata, what are you doing?" Hiashi asked his daughter.

"I'm stopping this pointless fight, father," Hinata said sternly. "I am leaving with Naruto, and that is that. You won't stop me." She walked over to Naruto, who was breathing hard, but still standing. His Byakugan eyes had disappeared too. Taking his arm she said, "I love him father, and nothing you say or do can change that!"

"Hinata…" Hiashi said. Then all of a sudden, he started to smile. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Congratulations, you both pass."

"Huh??" Both Naruto and Hinata said in unison. Naruto said, "What are you talking about old man?"

"Well, maybe I should explain," Hiashi said. "You see, I knew for a long time that Hinata liked you Naruto, but I was waiting for the day that she confessed her love to you, and you confessed to her. I wanted to see what you would do to protect her, even if it was from her own family. As for Hinata, I wanted to see if she could stand up to me about how she felt about you."

"So, then you knew who I was talking about the other morning?" Hinata asked.  
"Yes, and I knew you ran away when you went to give him your chocolates too," Hiashi said with a smile. " I had your younger sister follow you and tell me everything that happened."

"But Kakashi said that you didn't want me to have anything to do with Hinata," Naruto said.

"Of course he did. He didn't know that I was testing you," Hiashi explained. "The only ones who knew about it were myself and Hinata's little sister. So I had to be convincing with everybody else, even Neji. You see, I knew Neji would help you in a situation like this, so I had to keep him out of the loop."

"So all of this was a test?" Naruto asked. Looking around at all the soldiers he said, "Now I feel kind of bad for putting your people through that jutsu."

"I have to admit something," Hiashi said. "That was the first time that I have seen the Dragon Twister jutsu in many years. The last time I saw it performed was when your father, the fourth Hokage, used it Naruto."

"That was my father's jutsu?" Naruto asked looking surprised.

"Yes, and you use it as well as he did. Now I just have one thing left to say," Hiashi said, stepping forward. He placed his hand on Naruto's left shoulder, he said, "Take good care of my daughter, Naruto." With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Naruto and Hinata at the smoldering remains of the front gate.

"Well that was unexpected," Naruto said, a little dumbstruck.

"Yes it was," Hinata said. Then, grabbing Naruto's arm she said, 'It all worked out though." Naruto looked at her, and she leaned in and kissed him.

Smiling at her, he said, "Shall we go then?" he asked her with a smile.

She returned the smile and said, "Yes." With that they walked from the Hyuuga state, Hinata hanging onto Naruto's arm, and her head resting on his shoulder.

* * *

Author's note:

Okay, that's it for Chapter 5 people. Hope ya liked it. By the way, for everyone thinking this is the end, it isn't. There are still another 10 chapters left after this. Hope ya'll like them too. Bye for now.


	6. Chapter 6

Late in the afternoon, on the same day that Naruto had attacked the Hyuuga estate, Kakashi arrived to inspect the damage. He walked through the gate, which was being replaced at the time, reading " Makeout Paradise". Not paying attention to where he was going, he nearly fell over a medical ninja.

"Oops. Sorry about that," He said to the ninja, who went back to working on a Hyuuga soldier with a broken arm. Kakashi quickly found Hiashi off to the one side, overseeing the whole thing. Kakashi worked his way over to Hiashi, and leaned on the wall next to him.

"Hello Kakashi," Hiashi said, not even looking at Kakashi. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, you can drop the angry act, for starters." Kakashi said, not even batting a lash.

Hiashi smiled and said, "Hmph. Can't get anything past you, can I?"

"Wasn't this a little much for just a test?" Kakashi asked, now looking at Hiashi, who looked right back.

"Probably, but I wanted to see how much he cared for Hinata. I wanted to see if he would stand up to a veritable army to protect her." Hiashi smiled a little smile. "He passed with flying colors."

"Still, how did he beat all these people by himself? These are Hyuuga elite soldiers, and it looks like they took the beating of a lifetime." Kakashi looked around at all the soldiers. He was surprised at the sight, but his face never showed it.

"They were… unprepared. They boy used many jutsu. Ones that we didn't think that he knew," Hiashi said. "He even used the Dragon Twister jutsu."

Kakashi's eyebrows rose up so much that they nearly disappeared into his silver hair. "The Dragon Twister jutsu?" Kakashi smiled under his mask. "He really is his father's son after all. I wonder where he picked up that jutsu?"

"Well, the only place I can think of is the scroll of forbidden jutsu," Hiashi said.

"Hmm, you're right," Kakashi said. "Makes me wonder what else he learned when he peaked in that scroll." They both stood there for a while, thinking on the matter.

* * *

Evening settled on the village of Konoha. At a small café in the village, Naruto and Hinata were sharing a cup of coffee with Sasuke and Sakura, and retelling the events that had occurred earlier in the day.

"It was a test?!" Both of them sounded shocked by the news that it had been a test. Sakura then said, "Boy, he must have really wanted to know what you were capable of."

"Well then, he got a good show," Naruto said with a smile. "Thanks again you guys. Those jutsu you taught me came in handy."

"I hope they did," Sasuke said taking a sip of his coffee. "Otherwise, that training would have just been a waste of our time."

"He did very well," Hinata said blushing a little as she looked at Naruto, but she smiled at the fact that he was all hers. "But I only saw him use the one jutsu. That Dragon Twister jutsu." Sasuke and Sakura's eyes both snapped wide open, then they turned to a scowl that they directed towards Naruto, who just scratched the back of his head and grinned a goofy grin.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Sakura asked, looking back towards Hinata, who was still smiling.

"I'm not sure," Hinata said. "But, I think I'm going to move out of the Hyuuga estate." This earned her a stare from everyone at the table.

"Why do you want to do that?" Sasuke asked. "Your family is okay about you and Naruto being together, aren't they?"

"The only ones that I'm completely sure about that are my father, my sister, and Neji. I'm not sure about the rest of the family, though. So I've decided its time for me to leave them."

"Where are you going to live then? You don't have anywhere else to go." Sakura said a little concerned.

"Well…" Hinata said, blushing a lot at this point. "If he would let me, I was hoping to move in with Naruto." Sakura and Sasuke looked stunned at this answer, while Naruto turned a little red as he looked at her.

"A-are you sure about that Hinata?" Sakura asked, a little flustered. Then she calmed down a bit and said, "I mean, Naruto's apartment is so small. I don't think it was meant for two people."

"She does have a point Hinata," Naruto said. "My place is barely big enough for me anymore. I don't think it can take two people." Hinata looked a little disappointed, but then Sasuke said something that made both her and Naruto happy.

"If that's the case Naruto, then why not come live with me and Sakura?" Sasuke suggested. Both Naruto's and Hinata's head snapped towards Sasuke's direction. "I mean, the Uchiha main house is so big. We have more than enough room that the two of you could live with us and it still wouldn't be the least bit crowded."

"That actually sound pretty good," Naruto said. Suddenly he had a thought. "Say, when did Sakura move in with you? You never told me about it."

Sasuke actually blushed a little at this question. "Really? I t-thought I did." Sasuke quickly looked away.

"He does have a good point Naruto," Sakura said, blushing a little bit as well. "That place is huge. We could all fit in there very easily." Turning to Hinata, she said, "What about you Hinata? What do you think?"

Hinata looked at her, and then at Sasuke. Finally she said, "I think that would be fine." Hinata brought her hand to her lips, and her mind wandered through thoughts of her and Naruto living under the same roof.

"All right then, it's decided," Naruto said. "When she we move in?" he asked with enthusiasm in his voice.

Having finally stopped blushing, Sasuke turned back towards them and said, "You guys can move in as early as tomorrow."

"Alright then," Naruto said, and finished off his cup of coffee. "In that case, I need to get home and pack." Turning to Hinata, he held out a hand and asked, "Can I walk you home Hinata?" Hinata looked at him with big eyes for a second, and then took his hand. She wrapped her arm around his as she stood up, and the two of them started walking in the direction of the Hyuuga estate.

As the two of them left, Sakura and Sasuke watched them go. Leaning against Sasuke, Sakura said, "Those two are perfect for each other. I'm happy for them."

"You're right," Sasuke said as he stared after the two of them. "Those two are perfect for each other. Just like you are the perfect one for me." Sakura looked up at him with big green eyes. After a moment, Sasuke bent down and kissed her, letting the both of them feel the softness of each other's lips.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata had a quiet walk home, only because they were savoring each other's company. They were about halfway to the Hyuuga estate when Naruto said, " Hinata, are you sure this is what you really want?" Hinata looked up at him. "I mean, am I really worth it?"

Hinata stopped walking. Naruto looked at her, and she said, "Yes. You are worth it. You're worth the entire world to me. I would do anything for you." At this point Naruto's eyes opened wide. "I mean-. What I meant to say was-." She was lost for words. Her face turned cherry red as she brought her hands to her mouth. Naruto's eyes reduced to their normal size and he smiled. He embraced her and held her close, and she did the same to him.

While they embraced, Naruto said, "You don't have to do anything for me. Being close to you is enough for me."

They parted, but held onto each other by the arms. "Naruto…" Hinata said as she stared into his blue eyes. Leaning up, she kissed him, and savored the softness and sweet taste of his lips. "Thank you." She said when they parted.

"You're welcome," Naruto said with a smile. "C'mon, lets get you home. You're dad's going to be worried."

He walked her the rest of the way to the Hyuuga estate, then said goodbye to her at the gate. After that, he headed home and started to pack his things, getting a lot of help from his shadow clones.

* * *

Late afternoon the next day, Sasuke stood at the front gate of the Uchiha main house with Sakura, waiting for Naruto and Hinata to show up.

"There's Naruto," Sakura said, spotting him coming around a corner a short distance away.

"And there's Hinata," Sasuke said, as Hinata showed up coming from the opposite direction. Each of them only had a couple of bags with them. When the two of them reached the gate, Sasuke asked, " Is that all the stuff you guys have?" He had thought that they would both have a lot more stuff.

"Yeah. I didn't have very much to pack," Naruto said. "There was less in my apartment than I thought there was. It was just a matter of finding it all."

"I didn't have very much either," Hinata said. "The most I really needed was my clothes, and a few other things."

"All right then," Sakura said. "Let's show them to their room then."

"Our room?" They both thought. Then Naruto asked, "Are we sharing a room?"

"Yep," Sasuke said, and that was it. Nothing else was said. However, both Naruto and Hinata blushed at the prospect of sharing a room with the other. The walked through the house, until they came to a rather luxurious bedroom on the one side of the house.

"This will be your room," Sakura said with a smile.

"Wow," Naruto said when he walked into the room. "This is huge." The room was indeed very large. It had a large wardrobe in the one corner, big enough to hold several pair of clothes for each of them. The walls were colored a pretty light purple color; the same as Hinata's eyes, and the carpet was navy blue. A dresser sat in another corner, and a towering bookshelf sat against the one wall, but there were very few books on it. Even with all these things in the room, it was still big enough to comfortably fit five people. "This is great. It's so much better than my place."

Then Naruto noticed something that he hadn't when he had entered the room. Hinata must have noticed it too, because she said, "There's only one bed."

"Yeah," Sasuke said. "We thought you guys would like to share the bed." Naruto and Hinata both turned cherry red at this statement. Yes, they had both thought about it, but neither of them had thought it would actually happen.

Sakura saw this and said, "We'll leave you two to unpack. Hurry up too. We made plans to eat out tonight in order to celebrate you guys." After she said that, she disappeared out of the doorway, dragging Sasuke by the arm, and leaving a speechless Naruto and Hinata to unpack their things.

* * *

That night, Naruto lay in the bed next to Hinata, who was fast asleep. Both of them agreed that they would share the bed after they unpacked their things, and left with Sasuke and Sakura. The plans that Sasuke and Sakura had made had actually turned out to be a party in honor Naruto and Hinata getting together. Almost every one of their friends had been there, as well as Kakashi and the rest of the Jonin. Food and sake had been served in large amounts, and everyone indulged in large amounts of both. Everyone had a great time, but they also all had too much to drink. Hinata had had so much that she barely got home and into her nightgown before she fell asleep on the bed. Naruto had been sober enough to cover her up before changing into shorts and a t-shirt and slipping in next to her. Now he lay there, so nervous about the fact that he was sharing a bed with her that he couldn't get to sleep.

"Calm down. It's no big deal," He thought to himself, but he looked at her next to him, and got even more nervous. Finally, he cleared his mind of everything and closed his eyes. He fell asleep almost instantly. He dreamed some bad dreams. They were mainly of Sakura, who was beating the hell out of him during each one. He woke up with a start, remembering the last dream, where she was going to squeeze him until he snapped like a pretzel.

"Phew, it was just a dream," he thought to himself. Then he noticed that something was wrong. "Wait a minute. If it was a dream, the why do I feel like I'm still being squeezed." Looking down, he quickly spotted the source of the pressure around his mid section. Hinata had rolled over and grabbed onto his waist while she slept.

"Aw crud," Naruto thought. He started to twist in her arms and tried to get out of her grip, but the more he fought to get out, the harder she squeezed. He struggled for a little longer, and finally gave up after he saw that it was a hopeless struggle.

"Naruto…" Hinata muttered in her sleep.

"Something tells me this is going to be a very long night," Naruto thought before he drifted back to sleep. The rest of the night went well, except for the few times he was woken up by her squeezing him.


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto woke up the next morning with a splitting headache, feeling even more tired than when he went to bed the night before. Crawling out of bed, he grabbed a towel from wardrobe, and then walked to the kitchen, where he found Sasuke drinking a cup of coffee and holding his head.

"Morning," Sasuke said groggily. He winced a little when he said it. Naruto had seen him the night before. He had drunk so much sake that he had become like Lee did after one shot. It was a side of Sasuke that Naruto hadn't seen before. Although, he didn't destroy everything in sight when he was drunk.

"Never again, huh?" Naruto asked pouring a cup of coffee for himself.

"Nope. Never again," Sasuke said. He poured some more coffee and said, "At least not if I can help it."

"I hear you," Naruto said. He took a sip of his coffee, then recoiled at the taste that met his tongue. "Yuck. What kind of coffee is this?" He looked down in his cup to see that the coffee was thick and dark, kind of like tar.

"It's espresso," Sasuke said as he leaned against the wall. "I need something strong to wake me up in the morning, and this happens to be the only thing that will do it." He sipped down some more of the strong liquid as he said this.

"No thanks then," Naruto said. "That stuff tastes horrible. Besides, a hot bath wakes me up more than coffee does. Don't wait up for me." With that, Naruto exited through the door on Sasuke's right, heading towards the bath.

"Don't worry, I won't," Sasuke said. He stood there for a minute, and then looked at the clock on the wall. He thought, "Let's see, in about 3, 2, 1…"

Somewhere in the house Sasuke heard Hinata scream, and then he heard Sakura yell, "NARUTO, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!!!" Then there was a yell, a small thump, and finally silence. Sasuke remained in the same position for another minute, taking small, patient sips of his coffee. Finally, Naruto came back through the door he had exited from. He was soaked from head to toe, a bucket was sitting on his head, and he had a little bit of a nosebleed.

"So, did you see anything?" Sasuke asked with a smile. "Or did Sakura punch you and give you that nose bleed?"

Naruto looked at him for a second, and then said, "I hate you sometimes, you know that?" Sasuke laughed at this. Then, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Naruto said, walking out of the room. He pulled the bucket off his head as he went and dropped it in the doorway. Sasuke laughed a little more and went back to his coffee.

Naruto reached the front door of the house and opened the door. He was met by Shikamaru, who had Ino hanging onto his arm like Hinata did with Naruto.

"Oh, hello Naruto," Ino said. "What are you doing here? And what happened to you?" She was referring to the fact that he was still soaking wet, and that he still had some blood on his face.

"I'll answer the first one, but I would rather not talk about the second," Naruto said. "Sasuke and Sakura invited me and Hinata to live with them, so I'm living here now."

"What?!" Ino yelped. Shikamaru even raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Well, if that's the case…" Shikamaru said. "I bet you walked in on the girls taking a bath didn't you? That's why you're like that, isn't it?"

Naruto felt like he'd been stabbed. A sweat drop appeared on his head and he said, "Yep."

"Well, then you deserved it," Ino said. "Anyway, Tsunade sent us. She wanted us to give it to you guys," she said handing him a scroll of paper. "It's your guy's next mission."

"Thanks," Naruto said. He turned to shut the door, then stopped and asked, " How long have you guys been going out for?"

Both Shikamaru and Ino looked like they had been hit by an electric shock. Then Ino said, "W-wh-what makes you think were dating?!"

"The fact that you're holding onto his arm like he's going to disappear if you don't," Naruto said with lazy eyes. "See you guys later," he said shutting the door, and leaving the two of them there, both blushing like cherries.

"What's that you have there, Naruto?" Sasuke asked when Naruto reentered the kitchen.

"According to Ino, it's our next mission assignment," Naruto said, unrolling the scroll. He read it over, then said," It's not just for us. It's for Sakura and Hinata too. Apparently, there's something going on in the Land of Wind. Were supposed to go there to help stop whatever it is, and were going to be working with… aw, hell."

"What? Who is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Who else but Gaara, Kankuro and Temari." Naruto said in a slightly down voice. "We meet them later today, and head off for the Land of Wind."

"Hey, it's no problem,' Sasuke said. "I heard he has better control over Shukaku than he did before."

"Yeah, right," Naruto said, thinking back to his first fight with Gaara.

* * *

Hinata was back in her room. She and Sakura had just finished their bath, and she was getting dressed.

"I can't believe that Naruto… saw me," she said blushing. As she pulled on a pair of pants, she thought to herself, "Did he like my body? Or did he hate it?" She hoped it wasn't the latter of the two, for she didn't want to drive him away.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Outside the door, Naruto asked, "Hinata, are you decent?"

"Just a second," she yelled. She quickly pulled on a tube top, a net shirt, and vest to wear over them, and then said, "All right, you can come in."

Naruto opened the door and walked in, catching her eye when he did. They both blushed, remembering what had happened not much earlier. Naruto was the first to speak up. "Sorry about earlier," he said. "I didn't know you two were in there." He blushed a little harder as he said this.

"It's okay," Hinata said, even though she was so embarrassed that she could barely look at him. She was going to be even more embarrassed after she asked the question she had on her mind. "Naruto, I want to know something."

"Huh? What is it?" He sounded a little confused.

"I want to know… did you like it? Did you like my body?" She had muttered the last question to the ground, and her faced burned with embarrassment. Naruto's face was about the same, but he didn't falter.

He swallowed, and took a deep breath. Then he said, " I couldn't see much through the steam, but I could tell one thing." Hinata looked at him hopefully. "You have a fabulous body, Hinata." He smiled at her, and she jumped on him and hugged him.

"Thank you Naruto," she said as she pressed herself against him. It was at this point that he noticed that she had very large breasts. He blushed a little more, trying to keep his mind off of them, but it was very difficult. She finally let him go, and he breathed a sigh of relief. A little more time, and he would have been in a bit of trouble.

"What's the matter?" Hinata had mistaken his sigh of relief for a troubled sign.

"Oh, it's nothing. I came to tell you that we have a mission. We leave in a little bit to meet up with the sand ninjas," he said.

"You mean… Gaara and his squad?" Hinata asked nervously. Naruto nodded, and Hinata hugged him again. "Those guys. Why them? They scare me to death, especially Gaara, and that demon that possesses him." She shivered a little in his arms, and she pressed her head against his shirt.

Naruto could see that she was obviously afraid, so he put his hand under her chin and positioned her head to look him in the eyes, and then said, "Don't forget, I have a demon living in me too. You don't have to worry about him, because if I have to, then I will protect you from him."

"Oh Naruto," Hinata said, looking into his deep blue eyes. Then she leaned up and kissed him. While they kissed, Naruto's tongue brushed her lower lip. She parted with him instantly, bringing her hand to her lips.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said. "I was being to forward."

"No, it's okay. You just surprised me is all," Hinata said. "Would you like to try again?" This time when they kissed, she allowed him to enter, and let his tongue explore every part of her mouth, while he allowed her the same freedom.

* * *

The three siblings from the sand village were waiting on the outside of Konoha. Gaara, was standing against the village's wall, Kankuro was in a tree, and Temari just stood there with her arms crossed. Noon rolled around before Naruto and everybody else shoed up.

"It's about time," Temari said impatiently.

Kankuro jumped down from the tree, swinging his puppet over his back, and said, "We thought you guys were never going to show up."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Naruto said. "It took us a little longer than we thought it would to get our gear together." Just then, he noticed Hinata was hiding behind him, and with good reason from what he saw. Gaara was staring at her like he was trying to burn a hole through her skin.

"Who is this?" he asked in his usual voice. He looked at Naruto when he asked it, clearly directing the question towards him.

"This is Hinata, my girlfriend," Naruto said with a threatening tone, which basically said, "Lay a finger on her, and I'll gut you where you stand."

"Girlfriend, huh?" Gaara said. Then with a little chuckle, he said, "Lucky fox." He started walking the path that lead away from the village, and everyone else followed, while Naruto and Hinata lagged in the back.

After a while, Kankuro slowed down to join them in the back. Hinata was leaning on Naruto's right shoulder by this point, while his arm was around her waist.

"Don't worry about Gaara you two," Kankuro said in a low voice, but still loud enough for the two of them to here. "He's been in a bit of a bad mood lately."

"About what?" Naruto asked. "What could he be in a bad mood about?"

"Well, it's the fact that he can't find a girl," Kankuro said. Naruto and Hinata looked shocked by the answer. Neither of them had been expecting that answer. Kankuro continued, saying, "You see, lately Temari has been going out with that Kiba kid from your village, and I've been going out with a girl from our village. He's a little jealous of us, so he's kind of against most couples right now."

Naruto and Hinata couldn't believe what they were hearing. The terror of the sand village was upset because he couldn't get a girlfriend. They almost laughed, but then Sasuke and Sakura lagged back to join Naruto, Hinata, and Kankuro.

"Hey Kankuro, what's going on in the Land of the Wind anyway? Why did you need to call in help from Konoha?"

"We didn't just call for help," Kankuro said. "We called for specifically for you and Naruto."

"Why us?" Naruto asked sounding confused.

"Because the one causing the trouble is the one that both of you faced, and walked away from alive," Kankuro said.

"What are you…?" Naruto started to ask, but then the answer hit him like a ton of bricks.  
Sasuke must have come to the same conclusion, because he said, "You don't mean…" His voice was low and quiet.

"Yes," Kankuro said. "The one causing the trouble in the Land of the Wind… is Itachi Uchiha."


	8. Chapter 8

Aside from the conversation that had taken place, the journey was a rather quiet one. Kankuro stayed in the lead with Temari and Gaara after the conversation that he had had with Naruto and the rest of them, and he hadn't said a word to them since. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata hung back, each of them holding onto their loves. Thoughts flowed through both Sasuke's and Naruto's heads of the last fight they had with Itachi. It had been a horrible fight, both of them having been beaten to pulps.

"That man," Sasuke thought as they walked. "I can't believe it. He's back again after all these years. But why attack the Land of Wind? What does he hope to gain from it? Damn it, this is frustrating."

Even though Naruto had thoughts of Itachi swimming through his head, one thing kept repeating itself over and over again. "I don't care what happens to me, just as long as Hinata is safe. I would die to protect her."

"Naruto," Hinata said, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked down into her wide purple eyes. "Is something wrong? You've been kind of quiet since we left the village."

"Oh, no, it's nothing," he told her. Then he thought to himself, "Dammit, I've got to stop doing that. I'm making her worry about me over nothing."

Hinata wasn't the only one worrying about her man. Sakura remembered how Sasuke had ended up in the hospital or a while the last time he fought Itachi. She was worried that this time it might be worse. She looked at Sasuke for a minute, and then looked back at the ground.

Sasuke must have been able to tell what she was thinking, because he said, "Don't worry Sakura. I don't plan on dying anytime soon."

Sakura looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, 'Thank you Sasuke." She wiped the tears from her eyes and laid her head on her shoulder.

They kept walking until they came to a small village. The people of the village were running around, all of them setting up a stall or booth.

"What's going on here?" Gaara asked, watching every person that crossed his path.

"Looks like the village is getting ready for a festival," Temari said. With a smile she asked, "Do we want to stay here tonight?" It was painfully clear that she wanted to check out the festival.

"Sure, why not?" Sasuke said as he watched all the activity in the village.

"Yeah, it could be fun," Naruto said with a smile. They all looked at Gaara, as if waiting for his approval.

"I don't really care," Gaara said, never even changing his expression. The all smiled a little smile. They all knew that even though he didn't show it, Gaara wanted to see the festival and have some fun.

"Let's go find an inn then," Temari said. They walked down the street a little ways, when Naruto spotted something in a shop window.

After they had passed the shop, he said, "Excuse me for a minute Hinata." He let go of her arm, then went and whispered something in Sasuke's ear. Sasuke looked at him for a second, and nodded.

"Temari, me and Naruto are going to take a look around. We'll catch up with you guys later." With that, he let go of Sakura's arm, and he and Naruto started back the way that they came, leaving both Hinata and Sakura wondering where it was they were running off to.

* * *

An hour passed, and Naruto and Sasuke still had yet to come back.

"Where the heck are those two? They've been gone for quite a while now." Sakura said. She and Hinata were in Temari's room, still wondering where their boyfriends had run off to.

"Jeez, you to need to stop worrying." Temari said. "They will come back. Besides, it's not like they are in any danger."

"She does have a point Sakura," Hinata said as she leaned against the windowsill and stared out into the street, where lanterns were being lit in preparation for the festival that evening. "They aren't little kids. They're our boyfriends. We need to trust them more."

Sighing, Sakura said, "You're right." Then she noticed that Temari was getting out of her clothes, and pulling a bundle from the backpack that she had been carrying. "Temari, what are you doing?"

"I'm changing into my kimono, of course," she responded. "I can't very well attend a festival without wearing it."

"A kimono… aw crud," Sakura thought. Then she whispered to Hinata, saying, 'Hinata, do you have a kimono for me to where? I don't have one."

"I didn't know we would be needing one, so I didn't even pack one for myself," Hinata whispered back. "I thought we were just going on a mission. I didn't even think about there being a festival in any of the villages we stopped in."

The two of them said, "We're going back to our rooms." They left Temari to change in peace, and went back to their own rooms to lie on their beds.

"What am I going to do?" Hinata asked herself. "Naruto wants to go to the festival so badly, but I don't have something to wear to it." Hinata thought about it for a minute, and then decided, "I guess I'll just stay here. Naruto can go have a good time." At that moment, there was a knock at the door. "Come in," Hinata said in a slightly disappointed voice. Naruto walked in the door carrying a small package with him.

"Oh Naruto, you're back!" Hinata got up from the bed and hugged him. He looked at her with a smile on his face.

"I was only gone for a little while," he said, setting down the package. Then he kissed her. "But, I missed you too."

"Oh Naruto," Hinata said before she kissed him again.

After they parted, Naruto asked her, "So, are you ready to go see the festival?"

Hinata's face fell and she looked down at the ground. "I can't go," she said sadly.

"What? Why not?" Naruto asked, sounding disappointed and confused.

"I don't have a kimono to wear," she said still looking at the ground.

"Oh, is that all? Then here, you'll want to open this," he said, shoving the small package that he had been carrying. Hinata looked at it, and then proceeded to open it. When she finished opening the package, she was holding a deep blue kimono in her hands, decorated with light purple lilies and cherry blossom petals the same color as her eyes.

"Naruto… it's beautiful," Hinata said, a little choked up. "Is this why you and Sasuke ran off earlier? To go get this?"

"Yeah, I spotted a shop that was selling kimonos when we walked into town. So, I figured that you didn't have one with you to where to the festival, and I wanted to buy one for you," Naruto said blushing. "I thought it might be the same for Sakura, so I suggested it to Sasuke, and he went and bought one for her too. That's why we were gone so long."

"Oh!! Thank you Naruto!!!" Hinata said, jumping at him, and throwing her arms around his neck. The force that they collided with was enough to knock them both to the ground. Naruto hit his head off the floor when they landed and cried out. "Oh, I'm sorry." Hinata said from on top of him."

Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto said, "It's okay. Never knew you were the excitable type though." He opened his eyes a little and stared straight into hers. They had both noticed the position they were and they each blushed. He leaned up into a sitting position, taking Hinata with him. They were still staring into each other's eyes. Naruto started to lean in to the point where Hinata could feel his warm breath caress her face. They kissed, and held that kiss for a long time. When they finally parted, they stared into each other's eyes again.

"Is… Is it all right if we stay like this for a while?" Hinata asked him.

"Yes," Naruto said, and then he embraced her for the longest time.

* * *

The festival was a big one. Stand after stand was set up all around the town, some wafting pleasant smells of food into the crowd, while others promoted games and prizes to lure in customers.

"This place is great," Hinata said next to Naruto.

"Oh, everything looks like fun," Sakura said from next to Sasuke. Those two were excited by everything they saw, but their dates had only eyes for them. Naruto and Sasuke couldn't take their eyes off of their girlfriend, who looked absolutely stunning in their kimonos. Both Hinata and Sakura wore their long hair dressed up in hair clips and a few berets. Their kimonos, except for a few differences in the location of the flowers, and the fact that Sakura's was red and pink while Hinata's was blue and purple, were pretty much the same, making the girls a matching pair. Naruto and Sasuke weren't the only ones that had noticed how good their girlfriends had looked either. Every guy around them was staring at the two girls, some of them blushing.

"Hey, those girls are cute," a guy off to the side said. He was built about the same as Sasuke and Naruto. "Let's see if we can get a date out of them."

"I don't think that's a good idea," his fried said. "I think they're with those guys there." He pointed to Naruto and Sasuke when he said this. "Trust me. You don't want to mess with them."

"Yeah right," the first guy said, arrogance soaking his voice. "They don't look all that tough. Hell, they look like they would run at the sight of me." With that, he started towards Hinata and Sakura.

"All right," his friend said smiling. "It's your funeral."

The guy didn't hear what his friend had said, and just kept walking. He reached Hinata and Sakura and said, "Hey ladies, how about a date with me?"

Both girls were alone for the moment. Naruto and Sasuke had gone off to buy them something to drink, leaving the girls to wait for them at the takoyaki stand. They both looked at him and Sakura said, "No thanks. We're taken."

"Oh, c'mon," the guy said. He grabbed onto Sakura's hand. "You don't seriously like that guy do you?"

"Yes I do! Now let go," Sakura said trying to pull her hand away. The guy tightened his grip.

"No I won't!" the guy said. "Not until you or your friend here say yes to a date with me." Suddenly, the guy felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You heard her buddy," a cool, calm, collected voice said from behind him. "Let go of her."

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried.

"Sasuke?" The man thought. He turned to look at the man behind him, and nearly screamed as when he was greeted by two fierce looking Sharingan eyes. He fell onto his butt, and scooted backwards away from Sasuke. "Y-y-you-you're…" He bumped into something. Looking up, he was met by a pair of red slitted eyes. He nearly screamed again.

"That's right," Naruto said, looking down on the man, slitted pupils growing even narrower. "He's Sasuke Uchiha. Now, who do you think I am?"

"N-N-Nar-Naruto Uzumaki!" the man exclaimed with fear in his voice. "The two demons of the Hidden Leaf village!" He looked from them to Hinata and Sakura. "Those are your girls?! Hey, I-I-I'm s-sorry! I-I d-did-didn't know they were yours!" He turned towards the girls and said, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" He looked like he was close to tears, and a wet spot had appeared on his pants.

"I think he got the point Naruto," Sasuke said, his Sharingan eyes returning to his normal ones. Naruto's had also changed back to his normal blue ones.

"Yeah, I think you're right," Naruto said smiling. The two of them turned, took the girls arms, and walked off, leaving the guy in a teary, balled up mess.

The guy's friend walked over to him and said, "I told you that you shouldn't have done that."

Not far off, Sasuke and Naruto were having a good laugh with the girls. "Can you believe it?!" Naruto said between laughs. "The guy actually wet his pants!"

"Well, you guys scared the crap out him, so I'm not surprised." Sakura said.

"Did you hear what he called you guys?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, the demons of the Hidden Leaf village," Sasuke said laughing. "I think he was just relieved that we didn't kill him."

"I'm surprised that you didn't," Naruto said to him. "If he had grabbed Hinata's hand like that, I would have."

This statement caused Hinata to look at him. Then she squeezed his arm even harder, leaned on his shoulder, and said, "Thank you Naruto."

He looked at her for a second, and then said, "No problem."

"All right, that's enough obsessing over that," Sakura said. "Were here to have fun, so let's get going."

"Yeah," they all shouted, and the two couples went off to do their own thing. The night was perfect. They played games, ate a lot of food, and just spent most of the night having a good time. By about midnight, the festival was starting to wind down, and the shops were starting to close up.

"Wow the night went quick," Hinata said. She had a stuffed fox in her hands, and the two of them were sharing some cotton candy.

"Yeah, you're right," Naruto said. "Let's find the others."

"Naruto, you have some cotton candy on your face," Hinata said. She picked a small amount of the fluffy pink substance from his face and stuck it in her mouth. This surprised him a little.

"Thanks Hinata," he said, blushing a little more, and causing her to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing," she said. Then she leaned against him and said, "Thank you Naruto. I had a wonderful time."

"Hey, there they are, a voice to the left said. They turned to see the other walking towards them. Sakura had a large stuffed bear in her arms, and she was sharing a drink with Sasuke. Temari had a small bag of goldfish hanging from her left hand, Kankuro had a few water balloons hanging from his fingers, and Gaara even had a fox mask hanging to the side of his head.

"It's getting late you guys," Temari said. "Let's get back to the inn. We set out early tomorrow, so we need to get our rest." They all agreed. They started back toward the inn, all of them unaware of the fact that they were being watched from very far off. Itachi, Kisame, and a young girl were at the top of a cliff overlooking the village.

"Exactly as I planned," Itachi said. "They're in the village."

"Good," Kisame said grinning and bearing pointed teeth. "Now all that's left is to get close to them."

"Don't worry," Itachi said. "I already have that part of the plan thought out." Turning to the young girl, he said, "Tokiko, you will soon have somebody to watch over, so be prepared."

The young girl looked at Itachi and said, "Of course, master."


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey Naruto," Sasuke said loudly from outside Naruto's and Hinata's door the next morning. "Hinata? Are you guys awake yet? We've got to leave soon." He knocked on the door with his left hand while he took a sip of coffee from the cup in his right. "C'mon, wake up you guys!"

"What the hell?" Sakura said walking out of her room. "Haven't you woken them up yet?"

"Trust me, I've tried," Sasuke said a little irritated, "They might as well be dead for the response I'm getting."

"Well then, why don't you go inside and try?" Sakura asked.

"Please, I can't pick locks that well," he said. While he took another sip of coffee, Sakura knelt down, summoned up a little chakra, and manipulated the lock on the door with it until there was a click. Sasuke almost spilled coffee down his front he was so surprised. "When did you learn to do that?"

"Please, I always forgot my keys when I first moved in with you, so I had to learn." Sakura said. "So, shall we?" she asked, opening the door.

The two of them walked in to the room. The first thing that they noticed was that neither Naruto nor Hinata was in bed.

"What the heck," Sasuke said very surprised. "Those two aren't even here."

"And all of their stuff is packed and sitting on the bed," Sakura noted, spotting both Naruto's and Hinata's backpacks at the one end of the bed.

"Well, then where the heck are they?" Sasuke asked. "It's not like they left after all." Suddenly he noticed something that he hadn't when they first walked in the room. There was a light coming from the crack at the bottom of the bathroom door. Noticing this, Sasuke went over to the door for the entire room, then opened and closed it, making it loud enough to be heard.

"Sasuke, what are you…" Sakura tried to say, but Sasuke brought a finger to his lips and pointed to the bathroom door. Sakura looked to where he was pointing and noticed the light at the bottom of the door. Nodding, she tiptoed towards the door, and so did he. They both pressed an ear against it when they reached it. They could hear a pair of muffled voices coming from inside.

"Man, I thought those two would never leave," Naruto said from the other side of the door. It sounded like he had a mouthful of something. It sounded like the shower was running too.

"Oh Naruto, they were just checking up on us," Hinata said. "It's not like they mean any harm."

There was the sound of water being gargled and spit. "You're right Hinata," Naruto said. "Anyway, they're gone now. So, mind if I join you in there?"

There was the sound of kissing from the other side of the door, and they heard Hinata say, "Mmm, minty." Then there was a giggle.

Sasuke and Sakura couldn't believe what they were hearing. The two of them were already bathing together.

"Yesterday she screamed when Naruto walked in on us in the bath," Sakura said quietly. "Now they're showering together."

"At this rate," Sasuke said quietly to her. "It won't be long before they're like us."

"You mean…" Sakura started to ask, but didn't get to finish her question. A yell came from behind the door.

"Waterfall Jutsu!" Naruto yelled.

"Huh?" Sasuke and Sakura thought. They didn't even have time to react as the door opened and they were slammed with a wall of water. They flew backwards about 3 feet, and landed on their backs, completely soaked.

"I told you it would work," Hinata said from the doorway.

"Yeah, but I didn't think they would actually fall for it," Naruto said. Sasuke and Sakura sat up. They were greeted by the sight of Naruto and Hinata, both fully clothed and dry as a bone.

"What the heck?" Sasuke said. "We thought you guys were in the shower."

"Nope," Naruto said. "We knew you two might snoop, so we decided to play a little trick on you."

"Oh, you two are both dead," Sakura said as she wrung the water out of her hair. "So, was everything we heard fake?"

"Well… the kiss wasn't," Hinata said blushing.

"Figures," Sakura said wringing more water from her hair. "If you'll excuse us, we're going to go change into some dry clothes." The couple left the room, dripping water as they went.

"You know that they are going to be mad at us for a while," Hinata said as they left.

"Yeah, but isn't it our business what the two of us do behind closed doors?" Naruto asked looking down at her. She blushed and nodded. "I still can't believe that they thought we were in the shower together." He laughed a little, and then both he and Hinata turned red at the thought. "That won't happen anytime soon," Naruto thought to himself.

"Naruto, let's head downstairs and wait for them," Hinata said, still a little red.

"Y-yeah, okay," Naruto said, walking to the bed to get his pack. As he walked, his foot caught on one of the bedposts.

Oops," he said right before he fell on top of Hinata. They both hit their heads off of each other's.

"Ouch, Hinata said, rubbing her forehead, and wincing in pain. She opened her eyes and was greeted by Naruto's face.

"I'm sorry," he said, staring down into her light purple eyes. " I didn't mean to do that."

"It's okay…" Hinata said. Her words trailed off as stared deeply into his blue eyes. They both blushed a little but neither of them moved. Each of them was mesmerized by the beauty of the other's eyes.

Neither of them said anything. Naruto took action though. Leaning his head down, he kissed Hinata. She felt his tongue brush her lower lip, and she gladly responded, allowing his tongue to enter her mouth, and he did the same for her. Not wanting this kiss to end, Hinata put a hand behind Naruto's head, running it through his messy blonde hair. Naruto responded by putting his arm around her and pulling her body closer to his than it already was. Hinata moaned a little at this, approving the advance that he had made. Their kiss had become fierce and rough, and it was what each of them wanted desperately. They parted from lack of breath, and Naruto leaned into her neck and started kissing it. He sucked on the skin right next to her pulse. When he came away, a small purple mark was in the spot.

"Ah," Hinata said when she checked the spot. "You gave me a hickey."

"Sorry about that," Naruto said, trying to catch his breath.

"It's okay," Hinata said. She started kissing his chest and neck, and she left a hickey in the exact same place that he had left the one on her neck. "There," she said catching her breath. "Now we match."

Naruto couldn't help but smile. Neither could Hinata. They loved each other, and they wanted to show it. Naruto got up, and Hinata sat up with him. She buried her head in his chest, saying, "Naruto, I love you so much. Do you love me too?"

Naruto smiled, then embraced her, saying, "Yes, and I promise that I will never stop loving you."

They stayed like that for a while, and then Naruto said, "C'mon, they're probably waiting for us." Hinata nodded into his shirt, and the two of them got up, grabbed their packs, and left the room, arm in arm.

* * *

"Naruto, what is that on your neck?' Gaara asked halfway through the day. He had kept quiet as always, but he was curious. Naruto hadn't had the mark the night before, and he had wondered where it had come from.

"Huh?" Gaara's question had caught Sasuke's attention. "Naruto has something on his neck?" Sasuke walked up closer to Naruto, trying to get a better look.

"It's nothing," Naruto said, adjusting his jacket collar, and a sweat drop appearing on his forehead.

"Hey, Hinata's got something on her too," Temari said from behind Naruto and Hinata, who were still walking arm in arm. Hinata pulled closer to Naruto, so that the hickey would be hidden from view.

Sakura obviously was curious, because she got really close to Naruto's one side and glared at Naruto's neck. She spied a little bit of the mark just above the top of his collar. "Hmm, just what did you two do after we left this morning?" She asked with a devilish grin on her face.

Another drop of sweat appeared on Naruto's forehead. Hinata started to blush a little. "W-why do you ask?" Naruto asked nervously.

"Mainly because you both have a hickey on your neck," Sakura said. Sasuke eyes snapped in Naruto's direction, and he cocked an eyebrow. Both Naruto and Hinata turned the brightest red that they could.

"Looks like we've been found out," Naruto said to Hinata.

"Oh, maybe it was a bad idea to give each other one," Hinata said.

Suddenly, Sasuke came up and put an arm around Naruto's neck and pulled him into a headlock. He then proceeded to give him a noogie.

"Ow, Ow! What the hell are you doing?!" Naruto said.

"Man, I never thought that you had it in you," Sasuke said. He kept walking and kept Naruto in a headlock. Sakura stayed behind with Hinata. So did Temari.

"What happened when we left?" Sakura asked again. Hinata blushed again, but then proceeded to answer the question. When she finished, Sakura said, "Wow, so he tripped, and you both ended up kissing on the floor. Jeez, you guys are farther along than when me and Sasuke started dating."

"Really?" Hinata asked. "Wow, I thought you guys hit it off."

"At first we didn't," Sakura said. "We hadn't heard from each other in such a long time that we didn't know what to say to one another. It didn't take long for us though."

"The same was true for me and Kiba," Temari chimed in. "We weren't sure of what to say to each other at first either." She smiled, and it looked to Hinata and Sakura like she was reminiscing of old times. "Anyway, we get along like you guys do now. He even gave me a hickey too." She pulled down her neckline to reveal a small purple mark. "His teeth caught though," she said pointing out two little scabs where Kiba's teeth had scraped.

"Wow, I wouldn't have guessed," Hinata said. "He doesn't talk about his love life."

"Anyway," Sakura said. "What else happened between the two of you?"

"N-nothing," Hinata said.

"Oh c'mon," Sakura said. "You can tell me." Hinata refused to answer, and Sakura ended up begging her the rest of the afternoon while Sasuke and Naruto talked.

* * *

The gang of ninjas stopped for the night in a clearing in the woods. A small fire burned in the middle of the small clearing, crackling and popping as it burned. Around the fire, the entire gang sat. Naruto and Hinata sat off to one side of the clearing. Naruto was asleep against the trunk of a tree, and he had his right arm wrapped around Hinata, who was sleeping up against his chest with her arms around his middle.

Sasuke and Sakura weren't far off, or much different for that matter. Sasuke was asleep too. He was leaning against one o the biggest trees in the clearing, while Sakura leaned against his shoulder, sleeping, and with a small smile spread across her face. Temari was spread out in front of the fire. She mumbled, "Kiba" as she slept. Kankuro was asleep just like everyone else, but he had a couple of Kunai knives around him as he slept. The only one who wasn't asleep out of all of them was Gaara, who was currently up in one of the tallest trees around the campsites. He stared up at the moon, and the moonlight reflected in his eyes. Taking his dark eyes off of the moon, he looked down at his sleeping friends.

"All of them have somebody," he thought as he looked at them all. "What do I have to do to get somebody like that? What do I have to do to make a connection like that?" He let the matter go, and turned to stare up at the moon again. As he turned, something caught his attention. It was fast, but he had seen something move in the corner of his eye.

"What was that?" He thought as he stood up. He leaped from the top of the tree, and landed silently. He looked around for a minute, and found footprints leading away from the clearing.

"Whose are these?" he thought to himself. "They're too small to belong to one of the others." He decided to follow the prints, moving fast and quietly. He followed the prints to about a mile from the clearing before he spotted a fire. Gaara hid, taking refuge in one of the trees. Looking down he spotted three figures, one small, and two large, all of them wearing red and black cloaks.

"It's Itachi Uchiha," Gaara thought. He removed the cork from his gourd, and then moved farther down the tree. He was now within earshot, and could hear what they were saying.

"… And we'll have him," Itachi said.

"Yeah, and all of that power," Kisame said, smiling with glee. "But how do we get close enough to replace one of them. It's not like they're going to let us."

"Oh, that's all taken care of," Itachi said. "It seems that one little fly has wondered carelessly into the spider's web." Itachi glanced up into the tree, right at Gaara.

"How did he-" Gaara's thought was cut short as he was jabbed in the neck from behind. Tokiko had moved from here position so fast that even the sand didn't have time to react. Gaara was out before he even hit the ground.

"Well, that was easy," Kisame said looking down at Gaara. He started to approach the boy.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Itachi said. Kisame gave him a strange look, but then got what he said. The sand in the gourd moved, and wrapped around Kisame's leg. Tokiko was at Gaara's side instantly, and she stuck a needle into his neck. The sand fell to the ground almost instantly and stayed there.

"What the hell was that?" Kisame asked.

"You forget," Itachi said. "This boy is possessed by Shukaku of the Sand. The boy may be unconscious, but the demon is awake and well. So, I had Tokiko hear create a special drug to keep it at bay. Now there should be no problems in keeping him here."

"Won't they know that you've taken his place?" Kisame asked.

They won't know the difference," Itachi said calmly. Making a few hand signs, he changed into Gaara's double. "I'll check in regularly." Glancing down at the real Gaara, Itachi said, "Make sure he goes nowhere." With that, he left, heading back towards the clearing, and towards all of Gaara's unsuspecting friends.


	10. Chapter 10

The morning came quickly in the forest. A few members of the group were starting to stir, the first of them being Naruto and Hinata. Naruto opened his eyes, and was greeted by the warm rays of the morning sun. Hinata stirred as he started moving.

"Good morning Naruto," she said with a smile.

"Good morning to you too," Naruto said. Then he kissed her. From the top of the tree, Itachi looked down on the two of them.

"Hmm, the Hyuuga girl," Itachi thought. "The boy must have an incredible amount of luck to end up with her. From what I've heard, Hiashi Hyuuga is incredibly protective of his daughter." He continued to stare down at them, now focusing mainly on Naruto. "Still, that is not what matters. We've come for Naruto, and that is all that matters."

While Naruto and Hinata went to a small stream near the clearing to wash up, the rest of the team started to wake up. Sasuke and Sakura were up first, followed closely by Temari and Kankuro. Sasuke kissed Sakura good morning, while the other two wiped the sleep from their eyes. Naruto and Hinata just came back from the stream.

"Morning guys," Naruto said using a towel to dry his hands. Then Hinata asked, " Did you guys all sleep well?"

"Considering that we slept on the cold, hard ground, yeah, pretty well," Sakura said. The sarcastic tone in her voice was pretty obvious.

A small drop of sweat appeared on Temari's forehead. "Heh heh. Don't worry, we'll be staying in the next village we come to tonight." Then she thought to herself, "Good thing too. I hate sleeping on the ground myself."

"Hey Temari, is there anything going on in the next village that we should know about?" Sasuke asked. "Like maybe another festival?"

"No, not his time," Temari said. "But there is a cool dance club in this village. Big place, loud music, and all the fun you could ever want."

"Cool!" Naruto nearly shouted. "We've got to check it out!" The rest of the group agreed with him.

At the top of the tree, Itachi thought, "Are these fools really ninja? They seem more concerned about having fun than completing their mission."

"Hey, Gaara!" Kankuro shouted from the ground, catching Itachi's attention. "C'mon down! It's time to get moving."

"Fools," Itachi thought. Then he jumped down, and started walking with the rest of them.

* * *

They're on the move," Kisame said, watching the group through a set of binoculars. "They don't even realize that it is Itachi with them." He smirked as he said this. "Tokiko!"

"Yes, Master Kisame," Tokiko said, bowing to him a little bit.

"It's time for us to get going," he said. "Have you given the boy his shot?"

"Yes master," Tokiko said. "His demon side shall give you no trouble."

"Good," Kisame said. Then he strapped his sword across his back, and picked up Gaara.

"Master Kisame, I have a question," Tokiko said.

"What is it?" Kisame asked. He hated being asked questions.

"Well, I was wondering, why are we after this Naruto person?" she asked. "What makes him so special?"

Kisame stared at her for a minute, and then said, "I'll tell you later. Right now, we've got to follow them." Then he jumped away, carrying Gaara over his shoulder, and Tokiko following behind.

* * *

The journey for the group that day was as uneventful as the first. There was almost no conversation, and the girls held onto their boyfriends like they might disappear if they didn't. They came to the next village in the early evening, and checked into the inn with no problems. Before they went to their rooms, they all talked over one matter.

"So we'll change and meet back here when we're ready to go, right?" Temari asked them all.

"Yeah," they all said nodding. Itachi said nothing though, just closed his eyes on the matter. They all headed to their respective rooms.

Naruto and Hinata arrived at their room, still grasping each other.

"I wonder what I should wear?" Naruto thought to himself when they went in the door. "I don't think my orange jumpsuit would be appropriate for a dance club."

"I think you should wear jeans," Hinata said "And maybe a shirt with a collar. They would look good on you." It was like she had read his mind.

Slightly surprised, Naruto said, "T-thanks. What about you? What are you going to wear?"

Hinata looked embarrassed by the question. Turning red and bringing her hand to her lips, she said, "I-I don't know yet. Is there something that you want me to where?" She looked even more embarrassed when she asked the question. Her face turned deep red.

"N-no, the-there isn't," Naruto stuttered. It was his turn to turn red now. "You don't need to wear anything special for me. You look great in anything." He smiled when he said this. Then he thought to himself, " Man, that was the corniest thing that I could ever say."  
However, Hinata didn't seem top think so. She had leaned up and kissed him out of nowhere. When they parted, she said, "Thank you Naruto." Then she hugged him around his mid section.

Looking down at her with a smile, he embraced her and said, " You're welcome Hinata." She looked up at him, slightly teary, and then they kissed again.

Meanwhile, in Temari's, Kankuro's, and Itachi's room, Itachi was having a few troubles of his own. Temari had started to change her clothes, and he was still in the room. Without batting a lash, he asked, "What are you doing?"

"Changing my clothes. You don't expect me to go to a club in my ninja outfit, do you?" She continued to change while she said it.

"Should I leave?" he asked her. Then he thought to himself, "I may be emotionless, but there is only so much that I can take." He could feel a nosebleed coming on even as they spoke.

"Why? Temari asked. "We're siblings. It's not like you haven't seen me naked before." The thought didn't help Itachi. Then Temari asked, "Shouldn't you be getting ready too, Gaara?"

"Why?" Itachi asked. He thought, "Surely this boy doesn't go to places like this."

"Because you're coming along with us, aren't you?" Temari asked. "You usually do."  
Itachi was almost dumbfounded. The demon of the sand village went to clubs, a place where Itachi would never go in his life. Itachi though never showed a bit of surprise. He just stared at her and said nothing.

Getting up, he went to Gaara's bag to look for a pair of clothes to wear. Looking through it, he thought to himself, "Blending in with them could be harder than I thought. I've never been to a club before. What the hell do I where?" He pulled out a shirt and jeans; he looked at it, and thought, "This will have to do."

* * *

"Is this the place?" Hinata asked later from outside the club.

"Yep, this is the place," Temari answered.

"It's huge," Sasuke said, overlooking the building. The place was at least two stories tall, making it pretty big by most standards.

"Wait until you get inside," Temari said. "It's even bigger. Plus, shinobi get in for free tonight."

"Yes!" Sakura thought.

The group started toward the door, and was met by a guy at the door, who asked, "Are you shinobi?"

"Don't we look like it?" Kankuro asked. The guy wasn't sure if he should answer that, but truthfully, none of them looked like it. Naruto was wearing blue jeans, a short sleeved, unbuttoned, black collar shirt, and necklace with the symbol for "fox" hanging from it, while Sasuke had on the same kind of jeans, and a long sleeved black collared shirt. Kankuro had taken off his hood, exposing light brown hair, and was wearing a sleeveless black t-shirt and cutoff black jeans. Itachi had on black jeans and a red and black shirt. Finally, the girls looked like they could be a matching set. They all were wearing black tube tops and miniskirts. Over top of their tops, they had on a net shirt. They all also had a pair of earrings in their ears. However, the entire group all had one thing in common. They were all still wearing their headbands.

The guy must have finally noticed, because he opened the door and said, "Sorry. Please come on in."

The group entered the club, and Naruto let out a whistle. "Wow, this place IS huge." The club had three stories to it, one on top, one down below, and one in the middle. Each floor was packed with people, who were either, laughing, drinking, dancing, or just having a good time. Loud music filled the whole place with sound.

"We'll see you guys later," Kankuro said. "We're heading off to the bar to get a drink. C'mon Gaara." Itachi looked like he wanted to protest, but he went along anyway.

"You guys are on your own again tonight," Sasuke said to Naruto and Hinata.

"Yeah, so make the most of it," Sakura said. Then they walked off, leaving the couple where they stood.

After a few seconds, Naruto said, "What more could we ask for." Then he put his arm around her shoulder, getting her full attention. "So, you want to dance?"

Hinata looked at him for a second and said, "Naruto, I can't dance very well."

"Neither can I, but I will anyway." He sounded so sure of himself.

Hinata stared at him for another moment, and then said blushing, "Okay." With that, they walked out onto the dance floor.

"It's easy to dance," Naruto said. "You just start moving, and soon you will be fine." He started to dance after he said it. Hinata followed his lead. Pretty soon after, she was moving flawlessly to the music, and having a wonderful time.

* * *

On the outskirts of the town, in a clearing in the woods, a small fire burned, illuminating the clearing. Kisame was up in a tree, keeping watch on the area around them, while Tokiko rested against the trunk of the tree. Gaara was still unconscious, and was currently tied to the trunk of the tree opposite of her. Opening her eyes, Tokiko looked across at the boy. Getting up, she walked over to get a closer look at him. "It is hard to believe that this is the terror of the Hidden Sand Village. He doesn't even look all that strong, and he went down so easily." Getting closer to him, she examined the mark for love on his forehead. She was about a foot from him when he opened his eyes. This surprised her so much that she nearly fell on her butt.

"Who are you?" Gaara asked. Tugging at his ropes a little, he realized that he wasn't able to get free.

"It's pointless to do that," Tokiko said. "Those ropes are tied so tight that not even master Itachi could get out of them. And don't even bother trying to use your sand. It won't work for you."

Gaara had tried this anyway, but to no avail. The sand in his gourd remained still. "Hmph, so you were able to suppress my inner demon. Impressive. Now again, who are you?"

"I am Tokiko Unohana. I serve master Itachi." She sounded serious, but Gaara chuckled a little.

"Master Itachi, huh?" Gaara asked. "Why would you serve a man as evil as him?"  
Tokiko looked like she was ready to explode at the question, but she restrained herself. "How can you call such a good man evil? Out of the goodness of his heart, he saved my life. I owe him my entire existence."

"They goodness of his heart? Don't make me laugh," Gaara said. His hooded eyes stayed on her for the entire conversation. "He probably saw potential in you. That's why he saved you. He did it for his own gain."

"You're wrong," Tokiko whispered. Then she shouted it. "YOU'RE WRONG!"

Kisame jumped down from the tree at this point. "Anything wrong Tokiko?" he asked. She looked at the ground and said, "No, it's nothing." Behind her, Gaara smirked a little.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata had danced for almost an entire hour. Tired and sweating, they headed for a free table in a corner of the club. When they reached it Hinata sat down, and Naruto asked her, "Do you want anything to drink?" The were both short of breath, and something cool and refreshing sounded good to both of them.

"Just some water," Hinata said with a smile.

"Coming right up," Naruto said. Then he kissed her on the lips and headed off, leaving Hinata sitting there by herself. All around her, guys were either staring at her, or whispering something in their friend's ears about her.

"Maybe I should have worn something different," Hinata thought looking down at her clothes. "This outfit is drawing too much attention." Just then, a couple of guys walked up to her and said, "Hey, would you like to dance with us?'

Hinata looked at them nervously, then looked back towards the ground, saying, "No t-thanks. I'm taken."

"What? You mean by the loser with the blonde hair? Heh. Ditch him. He's not worth your time," The one guy said in a sneering voice.

"Naruto's not a loser!" Hinata yelled at them.

The guys looked at her like they couldn't believe what she had said. Then they started to glare at her. "Boy, this one has quite the attitude," the one guy said, and then his friend said, "Good, I like them like that." Then he grabbed Hinata by the wrist. "You're coming with us." They both said. They started pulling on her arm, and then they heard the sound of glass being set on the table. The two of them looked around to find Naruto with two glasses in hand. The top half of his face was hidden in the shadows.

"Would you look at this guy," the one guy said. "He must really think that he can take us."

"Buddy, back down while you can," the other guy advised in a cocky tone. "We're Jonin from the Waterfall village, and we're the strongest ones." Naruto ignored what he was told and turned to face them. The guy and his friend smiled devious smiles. "Fine. It's your funeral." With that, they both ran in to punch him.

"Naruto!" Hinata yelled. She closed her eyes, unable to watch. Then she opened them a little bit to see what had happened. When she saw, she opened them fully. Naruto had caught both of their fists in midair, less than a foot from his face.

"What the?" Both of them looked confused. Suddenly, the air around Naruto started to glow bright red. The two Jonin looked a little scared. Then Naruto lifted his head so that his face was in the light. The Jonin looked terrified now, mainly because Naruto's eyes had become red and slitted, the lines had thickened on his face, and his canine teeth had become even more pointed.

"Would you like to know what I do to guys who try to hurt my girlfriend?" Naruto asked. His voice was raspy and scary. "I gut them like fish."

"W-we-we're s-so-sorry! We didn't anything to her! We swear!" The two of them looked like they were ready to cry.

"Good," Naruto said. "Now just so you get the message…" With lightning speed, he punched them both in the stomach, and sent them across the club, crashing into the wall, where they left an indent when they hit. Nobody really noticed what had taken place, or cared for that matter. They were too busy having fun.

"Jerks," Naruto said changing back to normal. When he turned around, Hinata hugged him around his middle.

"Thank you Naruto," she said. Small tears had welled up in her eyes. "If you hadn't come back when you did, then they would have…" She didn't even finish the sentence, just buried her face in his chest.

"It's okay Hinata," Naruto said, embracing her. "They won't be coming back to bother you. I promise." Just then, the music in the club started to slow down. "Hey, it's a slow song. How about a slow dance?" Hinata didn't say anything, but nodded into his chest. He led her out onto the floor and put his arms around her waist, while she put hers around his neck. She kept her head buried in his chest the whole time. Leaning down, he buried his face in her hair, taking in the flowery scent of it. "She smells so good," Naruto thought as he closed his eyes.

"He feels so warm," Hinata thought with her head still buried in his chest. "I want to be with him. I don't care if we have to stay like this forever. I want to be with him." They both lifted their heads up and stared into each other's eyes. Then they shared a long kiss with each other. Looking down from the upper level, Sasuke and Sakura had seen everything that had happened.

"Do you think Naruto went a little overboard?' Sakura asked Sasuke, who was enjoying a glass of Pepsi. He had decided to lay off sake since the party for Naruto and Hinata.

"No," Sasuke said looking down at the couple. "Those guys deserved what they got." Taking another sip of his drink, he said, "I probably would have done the same thing." Sakura walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you Sasuke," Sakura said, and then kissed him deeply.

Meanwhile, at the bar on the same level as Naruto and Hinata, Itachi sat drinking shots of sake staring at the couple. He had seen the whole event too.

"Incredible," Itachi thought, taking in another shot of sake. "So much power, and it's wasted on this boy. Not to worry though. Soon it shall be ours." Taking in another shot, he started to look a little tipsy, and proceeded to party with Temari and Kankuro.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning, sunlight shined through the windows of the inn. Naruto and Hinata lay in the bed. Naruto was awake and staring at the ceiling of the room, while Hinata was asleep with her arms around his midsection.

"I can't believe those jerks last night!" angry thoughts like this had been popping into his head like that all night. "They knew that she was with me, but they still tried to get to her! If I hadn't come back at that moment, then they would have…" He didn't even finish the thought. He knew what they would have done. Looking down at Hinata's sleeping face, he thought, "If anything happened to Hinata, I would…" He squeezed his fist in anger. He must hugged her a little tightly too, because she woke up and looked at him with beautiful, sleepy eyes, and asked, "What's wrong Naruto?"

"Nothing, nothing," Naruto said quickly. "Sorry I woke you up Hinata. We still have a little bit before we have to get ready, so you can go back to sleep for a while."

"Okay," she said wearily. Then she laid her head back down on his chest and fell asleep again.

As he stared down at her beautiful face, he thought to himself, "Hinata, I swear that I will protect you, even if it costs me my life."

* * *

"Dammit, does my head hurt," Itachi thought to himself as he sat up in bed. Even though his plan had been to keep an eye on Naruto most of the time the night before, he had ended up drinking with Temari and Kankuro instead. Apparently he had had too much, because now his head felt like it was being split open by an axe.

"That's it, I'm swearing off alcohol for good," he thought. "Because of it, I wasn't able to gather information on Naruto." A small amount of pain shot through his head, making him wince a little. "Good thing it's so quiet in this room."

The quiet did not last very long. Suddenly, the sound of a very loud hairdryer came from the bathroom. Temari had been in the shower, and was now drying her hair. The loud noise sent a large dose of pain shooting through Itachi's head, making it feel like someone was slowly pushing a knife into his skull.

"Temari, turn that thing off," Itachi said banging on the wall. Then he thought, "God, like she could make it any worse for me."

That thought came back and hit him in the face after about two seconds, when Temari came out of the bathroom. Her hair was down and she wasn't wearing any clothing at all, not even underwear.

"Gaara, you may not need to look great, but I'm a girl, so I need to look good," Temari said, waving a balled fist at Itachi. "So lay off until I finish, okay?" Itachi didn't say a single word; he just sat there staring at her. She went back into the bathroom, leaving him there. As soon as the door closed, Itachi's nose began to bleed like crazy. It was like a valve had been opened in his nose that couldn't be shut. He stuffed a couple of tissues up his nose and fell back on the bed.

"I think I might be found out before I can get to Naruto," Itachi thought as the blood stained the tissues in his nose. "Or I might just die from the sexual tension!" He rolled around on the bed, trying to get the image of Temari out of his head.

* * *

"Time to get going you guys," Sasuke said opening the door to Naruto and Hinata's room. The two of them were still on the bed, but Naruto had fallen asleep along with Hinata. "C'mon you two, wake up." He was about to shake them awake, when Naruto said something.

"Hinata…" he said, still fast asleep. "I promise… I will protect you." This caused Sasuke to stop for about a second, and when his hand was about an inch away from the two of them, Sakura grabbed him around his waist.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked, slightly confused as to why she stopped him.

"Look at them," she said sweetly. "They look so peaceful. Do you really want to ruin it for them?" She stared at him with big green eyes. She knew that he couldn't resist her when she did that. Then she said, "Besides, we don't leave for another half an hour, which gives us plenty of time to…" That one unfinished sentence went straight to Sasuke brain.

"Maybe you're right," Sasuke said with a small smile on his face. "Let's give them a little more time to sleep." With that, he put his arm around Sakura's shoulders and they walked back to their room. They walked in, and weren't heard from again until it was almost time to leave.

* * *

"They're leaving," Kisame said while he looked through a pair of binoculars at the group. "Hmm, Itachi looks like he's in pain, and he's got some tissues in his nose."

"That could be my sister's fault," Gaara said from his spot on the tree. "She probably shoved so much sake down his throat last night that he has a hangover. She also doesn't usually where clothes in the morning either, which was probably enough to make his nose bleed.

Tokiko giggled a little bit. She had been with Itachi for a while, and knew that he was the very serious type. She couldn't even imagine him with a nosebleed.

"Shut up brat," Kisame said with an angry tone. Then he thought, "That can't be the case. Itachi is too calm and collected for that to be the case."

"Master Kisame," Tokiko said. "Is it time to leave?"

"Yes," Kisame said. "Gather your things and give the boy his shot." Tokiko went around the campsite, gathering herbs and various other things. Finally, she went to Gaara and stuck the needle containing the demon suppressant in his neck. He didn't even put up a fight.

"I'm surprised," Tokiko said as she pulled out the needle.

"About what?" Gaara asked, looking at her.

"Well… I figured that you would try to keep me from sticking you by any means possible." Tokiko said, looking him square in the eyes.

"What for?" Gaara asked. "My sand won't move for me, and I can't make hand signs with my hands tied. The most I could do is squirm around, and that wouldn't do much good, seeing as you would get me eventually."

"Enough with the talking boy," Kisame said. He picked Gaara up off the side of the tree, and put him over his shoulder, making sure that his hands were tied tightly. "Tokiko, lets get going."

They leapt into the nearest tree and took off, following Itachi and the group. They traveled quietly, barely making a sound as the moved. Absolutely nothing was said during the time they spent on the move.

"Jeez these two are quiet," Gaara thought. "I must be used to Temari and the others talking constantly." He yawned a little bit. "I might as well get some more sleep. Since Shukaku can't take over my body at the moment, I can get some sleep and not worry." With that thought, he fell asleep, and was dead to the world in seconds.

Tokiko saw him, and thought, "What a fool. We could kill him at anytime, and what does he do? He sleeps. Again, I say, what a fool." Her mind may have been saying that, but her eyes were singing a different tune. As he slept, she stared at his calm yet strong face. She wasn't able to look away, which caused her to almost run into a tree.

"C'mon Tokiko, you have to keep up," Kisame said as she steadied her pace. She barely missed the tree, but she also nearly fell, and had to regain her balance. Other than that, the day went by without any problems. They only stopped after they reached their next destination outside the village that Itachi and the others stopped for the night.

"Tokiko, get a fire going while I get some water," Kisame said. Then he took off towards a small stream that he had spotted a little ways back.

Tokiko set up some firewood in position to burn, and the lit a match. As soon as she did, the firewood was burning almost immediately. During the time it took her to light the fire Gaara had noticed something. "Hmph, so that it," he said with a smile.

"What's it?" Tokiko asked, giving him a cold look.

"I just now figured out why Itachi took an interest in you," Gaara said.

"What ate you talking about?" she asked, narrowing her eyes as she stared at him.

"You have a Kekkai Genkai, a bloodline trait," Gaara said. "You can control fire, and bend it to your will, making it do anything that you please."

"Oh, that," Tokiko said. A tongue of flame came from the burning campfire, and it formed a small fireball in the palm of her hand. "I've been able to do that forever. What makes it so special?"

"Because Kekkai Genkai are rare nowadays," Gaara said. "They are special ninja skills that only exist in people who are part of a family that possess them."

"If they only exist in people from my family, then why would I be of interest to Master Itachi?" Tokiko asked. She was very suspicious of Gaara at this time, and she thought that he might be trying to trick her in some way.

"Because it was recently discovered that they could be given to others by a simple transfer of blood," Gaara said calmly. "A friend of mine is proof of that. He has the Kekkai Genkai of one of the families in his village, but he didn't until recently."

"No, I don't believe you." Tokiko was firm in her answer. "He saved me out of the goodness of his heart, not because of my power."

"Girl, you are blinded by his lies." Gaara was starting to get angry. "He does not care about you."

Tokiko had heard enough. She walked over to Gaara and slapped him across the face. "You don't know what you are talking about." She was angry, and the fire behind her flared up, burning almost white hot. Then, the fire calmed down, returning to normal, and Tokiko took off. She ran until the edge of the forest, where she sat in a tree in a curled up position, thinking, "He is wrong." She stayed there in the tree for a long time, letting her thoughts and anger flow.

* * *

"Hey, you guys," Sasuke said to Naruto and Hinata. "We spotted a small café when we walked into town. We were thinking of going to check it out. Do you guys want to come?"

"Actually, we were thinking about staying in tonight," Naruto said. Hinata nodded in agreement from Naruto's right side.

"What?" Temari asked. "Why?"

"We wanted a little alone time to talk," Naruto said. Again, Hinata nodded in agreement.

Sasuke was about to say something, but then Sakura said, "Okay then, we'll see you guys later. C'mon you guys, let's go." She pulled Sasuke away by the arm. Temari just stood there for a second, then said, "Okay, if you guys are staying here, then here's your key." She handed them the key to their room and walked after Sasuke and Sakura.

"Why did you interrupt me?" Sasuke asked Sakura, who was still pulling him along. "It would be good for those two to go out with all of us again."

"Well, I think that it would be better for them to get some time to themselves," Sakura said. "So let's leave them be for now." Sasuke stared at her for a moment, and then nodded, agreeing that it was probably the best thing for them right now. The two of them went to the front of the inn, where the met up with Kankuro and Itachi. Temari caught up with them soon after.

"Hey, where are Naruto and Hinata?" Itachi asked. "Aren't they coming with us?"

"No," Sasuke said. "They said that they needed some alone time, so they decided to stay behind."

"It figures," Itachi thought. "More obstacles in my information gathering."

"So, what do you guys think they're going to do with that time?" Kankuro asked. A little glimmer entered his eye as he said it.

"Get those perverted thoughts out of your head," Temari said, whacking him on the back of his head. "I don't think they are as bad as you. Anyway, let's get going." They started to walk away, leaving the inn behind.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Hinata were up in their room sitting on the bed, facing each other. They were silent for a few minutes, until Hinata spoke up.

"Naruto…" she said, "I'm sorry about last night."

"Why are you apologizing?" Naruto asked, concern and confusion in his voice.

"Because it was my fault," Hinata said. "The outfit I wore drew attention from everyone in that club. It I hadn't worn it, then they wouldn't have tried to do anything to me, and I wouldn't have caused you so much trouble." She sounded like she was on the verge of crying. Then Naruto embraced her, which made her open her eyes in surprise.

"Hinata, you didn't do anything wrong," Naruto said with a tender voice. "There was nothing wrong with the outfit. You looked great in it. It was my fault. If I hadn't left you alone like that, then nothing would have happened to you. You didn't do one damn thing."

Hinata was crying at this point. She wrapped her arms around Naruto and started crying into his shoulder. Pulling her away, he said, "C'mon now, dry those tears. You're too beautiful to be crying." He wiped her eyes with his finger as he said this.

"I-I'm s-so-sorry," she said. "It's just… I'm s-so g-glad to hear you say that." She was crying even more now. She buried her face in his shirt and cried, soaking his shirt with tears. Naruto didn't seem to mind at all. He put his arms around her and embraced her again. When she was finished, she lifted her head out of his shirt, she said, "Oh, I'm sorry Naruto. I got your shirt all wet."

"You don't have to apologize," Naruto said. "It's just a shirt. Everything is fine as long as I'm with you."

"Oh Naruto," Hinata said blushing. Then she leaned up and gave him a kiss. After they parted, they stared at each other for a minute. After the minute was up, they were kissing again, but this time the kiss was fiercer. The two of them were pulling each other so close that they became tangled. Hinata's hands were in Naruto's shirt, rubbing across the taught and firm muscles that covered his back. Naruto's hands had also found their way up Hinata's shirt, caressing the soft, smooth skin on her chest and stomach. They parted from lack of breath, and Naruto began to kiss her neck. Hinata moaned a little, but did not make him stop. She was thoroughly enjoying every second of it.

"Ah," Hinata said as Naruto's hand found it's way onto her left breast.

Lifting his head up and looking Hinata straight in the eyes, he said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" But he didn't finish the sentence, mainly due to the fact that Hinata had placed her hand over top of the spot on the outside of her shirt where Naruto's hand was currently sitting inside her shirt.

"It's okay, I don't mind," Hinata said with closed eyes. Then she opened her eyes and stared at Naruto with a tender look of longing. "Naruto, I am yours. You may do whatever you want to me."

Naruto stared at her for a few seconds, and then asked, "Hinata, are you sure about this?"

"Yes," Hinata said, her voice filled with compassion and love for the blonde ninja. "Naruto, I am sure. I will do anything for you."

He stared at her for a few more seconds, and then they started to kiss each other again. While the kiss was going on, Hinata removed Naruto's jacket and shirt, and threw them to the floor, exposing his muscled chest and stomach.

"He feels so warm," Hinata thought as she pressed herself closer to his muscled body. "And his muscles feel so nice." She rubbed her hands over his body, taking in every small detail, while Naruto removed her shirt and top, exposing her breasts to the world.

"She is so beautiful," he thought, keeping his eyes on Hinata's face. But it was hard to not notice her breasts as she pressed herself closer and closer to him. "And her body is so soft."

The two of them wrapped their arms around each other, and the kiss continued. Hinata leaned back onto the bed, and Naruto went with her. They continued to undress each other as they kissed, touched, and caressed each other. Soon, all of their clothes lay forgotten on the floor, and the two of them were under the already tangled sheets of the bed. The sheets tangled around the two of them even more as they moved, kissed, caressed, and made love. Moans of pleasure and excitement escaped Hinata's lips, signaling how much she was enjoying herself, and how much she liked the feel of Naruto. The two of them continued on for a long time into the evening.

* * *

Later that night, the group came back, all of them a little overdosed on caffeine.

"All right guys," Temari said. "We're going to bed. See you in the morning." She opened the door to their room and walked in, dragging her hyper brother, and a very hyper Itachi.

"That guy should have stopped after his first cup," Sasuke thought as he stared after the person that he thought was Gaara. Looking over at Naruto and Hinata's room he thought, "Maybe I should check on them." Going over to the door, he knocked and said, "Hey, you guys in there?"

"Sasuke, leave them alone," Sakura said from behind him. "They are probably asleep already, so don't wake them up." That statement settled the issue, and Sasuke walked away from the door, and then into his and Sakura's room. Meanwhile, in Naruto and Hinata's room, Naruto was still awake, staring up at the ceiling, while Hinata was sleeping up against him with her arms wrapped around him. Their clothes were still lying on the floor, and the sheets were wrapped tightly around the both of them.

"I didn't expect that from Hinata," he thought. "But then again, she can be unpredictable at times." He stared down at his sleeping lover, smiled, and thought, "That's the thing that I love about her the most." He then kissed her on the forehead and fell asleep, never even stirring his sleeping partner.


	12. Chapter 12

A new day's sunlight shined into the windows of the inn. Naruto and Hinata's room was illuminated with the warm and pleasant rays that came through their window. The sheets of the bed lay in a tangled mess on the mattress, and their clothes were still lying on the floor from the night before. Naruto and Hinata though, were not anywhere in that part of the room.

The sound of water running could be heard coming from the bathroom. The shower was running, and the two of them were standing in its stream, arms around each other, kissing like they would die if they parted. However, lack of breath made it so they had to part.  
Taking in deep breaths, Naruto said, "Hinata, I love you so much." He said it with love and compassion in his voice, and his eyes shined with a tender light.

"Naruto I love you too," Hinata said with the same love and compassion in her voice as Naruto. Leaning against him, she thought, "And I always will. I'll never let you go." She hugged him closer, pulling his muscled body closer to her own soft body. They embraced for a long time, enjoying the feels of each other's body while the water ran over the two of them.

* * *

"Great, another headache," Itachi thought as he sat up in the bed. Kankuro was still asleep on the floor of the room, drooling just a little bit. "Glad you can sleep," Itachi thought bitterly. This was the second time in two days that he had a headache due to have a drink he had the night before, so he was a little upset.

"Damn it, I'm swearing off caffeine now too!" Itachi thought, plopping down on the bed again. Sitting up again, he thought, "There's only one thing that could make it worse right now, and that's-." Itachi didn't even get to finish his thought before Temari walked out of the bathroom, naked as a plucked chicken.

It didn't even take two seconds. The blood started to flow, and it was all that Itachi could do to stop it before Temari noticed.

"Gaaah!" Itachi screamed in his head. "This girl must suspect me! There can't be any other explanation, because there is no way that this boy goes through this same thing everyday!" The blood continued to flow under his hands as he thought this.

* * *

Tokiko woke up early, just as the sun started to rise. She had stayed in the tree all night, thinking about what Gaara had said.

"It can't really be true, could it?" Tokiko thought as she headed back to the campsite. "Master Itachi saved my life out of the goodness of his heart. He told me so himself. But this boy doesn't seem like the type of person who would lie. Who do I believe? Master Itachi, or this boy?" Doubt filled her mind like a dark cloud in the sky; distorting the loyalty to the man she had devoted herself to.

"Ah, Tokiko," Kisame said. "I was beginning to think that you weren't coming back. Pack your things. They're getting ready to leave again."

Tokiko went over and silently packed her things. While she packed, she looked over at Gaara. The boy hung against the tree, face expressionless, and his eyes about half opened.

"I have to ask him. I have to ask what he really knows about my master. The next chance I get. I don't want Master Kisame to know what I'm doing."

They finished packing, Tokiko gave Gaara his suppressant, and they left. It was another day of silent travel for both groups. That night, they arrived in the Wind Country. Finding another clearing, Kisame and Tokiko got settled in, and Gaara was tied to another tree.

"I'm going to find a new place for us to stay tomorrow," Kisame said. "Now that were actually in the Wind Country they'll be on the lookout for us. So, we'll have to move around a lot to avoid them. I'll be back in a little while." With that, he jumped away, leaving Gaara and Tokiko alone in the clearing.

Tokiko walked over to Gaara and said, "I want you to tell me everything that you know about Master Itachi."

Gaara looked at her for a second and said, "I thought that you didn't believe what I had to say." There was a slight note of annoyance in his voice. He was obviously remembering the fact that she had slapped him the night before.

"I'm sorry about what I did last night," she said picking up on the annoyed tone. "But what you said made me think. I need to know what he's really like, or at least here what you have to say about him." Her voice was firm, and Gaara could tell that she was determined.

"Fine, I'll tell you," he said. "But don't get mad. Remember, you wanted to hear this." Tokiko nodded, understanding the fact. "All right, then here you go." He started talking, saying everything that he knew about Itachi, from his slaughtering of the Uchiha clan, up until the present situation.

"And now he's after Naruto again," Gaara said, finishing his explanation about Itachi. Tokiko was sitting on the ground, looking pasty pail and like she wanted to throw up.

"I can't… He really did all…" She couldn't believe all the things that she had heard. The man that had been so nice to her, that had saved her life, was a cold-blooded murderer. "He slaughtered his own clan, just to gain more power," she thought, letting it repeat itself in her head.

"I know that you probably don't like what I said, but it's the truth. His younger brother has never told me anything different." Gaara looked down at her. She looked like she had just seen a loved one murdered, but se got up and looked him in the face.

"Thank you Gaara," she said, but her face was still as pale as a ghost. "I-I needed to here that." However, she couldn't hold her composure anymore. She broke down, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and cried. "How can it be true?!" she sobbed into his shoulder. "How can someone who was so nice be so bad?!" She continued to cry into his shoulder, soaking it with tears. Gaara didn't say a word. The most that changed about him was a surprised look on his face that he had gotten when she hugged him.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "It's the truth though."

"I know it's the truth," Tokiko said through a knot that had developed in her throat. "I know it is, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." She continued to cry on his shoulder for a while, then she picked her head up and backed away a little, but she kept her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry. I got your shirt all wet." She stared into his eyes as she said it.

"It's okay," Gaara said as he stared into hers. "When you live with someone like Temari, you get used to…" His voice trailed off. Tokiko leaned in, closed her eyes, and kissed him. Shock and surprise registered on is face, but soon disappeared, and he closed his eyes too, enjoying the first real kiss that he had ever received.

* * *

"Alright you guys, get a good nights sleep," Temari said as she handed room keys to the two couples. "We start searching tomorrow, and it won't be easy for any of us." The group all agreed and went off to their rooms.

"Get a good night sleep she says," Itachi thought. "With her snoring, I don't see how you could."

In their rooms, however, neither of the couples was even thinking about sleep. They were both getting ready for another night of fun.

* * *

TWO WEEKS LATER…

"Man, I knew it would take a long time to find Itachi," Naruto said, picking up his drink and taking a sip. "This is ridiculous though."

"I know," Sasuke said, slurping some coffee. "Two weeks and we haven't even spotted a sign of him."

"Sasuke, you of all people should have known that this wouldn't be easy," Sakura said. "Remember, this is your brother, the rogue ninja, that were talking about. Of course we haven't found him yet."

"I know," Sasuke said. 'I don't need to be reminded of that fact."

"Anyway, we'll find him though," Naruto said. "Right Hinata?"

"Uh, right,' Hinata said. She had been staring down into a small bowl of ice cream that she had barely touched.

"Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto asked her. He looked at her with concern in his eyes. "For the last couple of days, you've been kind of out of it. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothings wrong," Hinata said quickly. "I was just thinking about something."

"Oh, okay," Naruto said. "If you're sure that it's nothing." He and Sasuke went back to their conversation after that.

After a couple of minutes, Hinata got up and rushed off.

"What the heck?" Sasuke said. "What was that about?"

"I'm not really sure," Naruto said staring after his beloved. "She's been acting a little weird for the last couple of days."

"Weird?" Sakura asked. "Weird how?"

"Well, she's been running off on her own like that," Naruto said. "She hasn't wanted to search with me either. Also, I woke up a couple of nights ago, and she wasn't in the room."

"Do you know where she went?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, she came back to the room right when I was about to go look for her," Naruto said. "But when we went back to bed, I could have sworn that I smelled strawberries."

"Strawberries?" Sasuke and Sakura asked at the same time.

"Yeah, but I didn't say anything," Naruto said. Then he got up and said, "Maybe I should go find her?"

"Hold it Naruto," Sakura said, grabbing his arm. "I saw her go into the bathroom, so I'll go get her. I know that she's your girlfriend, but I'm not letting you go into that bathroom. Think how that would look. A guy going into the girls bathroom." That last sentence settled the matter.

"Alright, fine," Naruto said. He knew she was right. It would be hard to explain why he was in the girl's bathroom, so he let Sakura go.

As soon as Sakura entered the bathroom she said, "Hinata, are you in here?" Looking under the stall doors, she spotted Hinata at the far end of the row. Going to the last door,

Sakura tapped on the door with her knuckles. 'Hinata, are you okay?" There was no answer from behind the door. "Hinata?" Sakura pushed open the door.

Hinata was on the floor against the wall. She was curled up with her legs against he chest, crying into her knees.

"Hinata, what's the matter?" Sakura asked, kneeling down to talk to her. "Why are you crying?"

Hinata looked up at her, tears filling her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. "Sakura," she said, still looking up at her friend. Then she put her head back in her knees and said, "What am I going to do?"

"Why don't you start by telling me what's going on," Sakura said calmly as she put a comforting hand on Hinata's shoulder.

Hinata nodded into her knees, then lifted her head up enough so that she could speak clearly.

"It started a few days ago," Hinata said with tears still flowing a little. "I started feeling nauseous. I thought that I was getting sick, because I had been throwing up a little bit."

"Well, maybe you've got the flu," Sakura said. "I mean, everybody gets sick, so what's there to worry about?"

"But that's not all that happened," Hinata said. "I started to get weird cravings for sweets late at night. I also had headaches and I started throwing up more and more." After that, I started to avoid Naruto, to keep him from worrying about me, but I can't do it for long, and I don't want him to worry about me." Hinata started to cry again.

"Why don't you want to be close to him?" Sakura asked. "What could possibly keep you away from him?"

"It was about two days ago that I realized what was wrong with me," Hinata said, more tears streaming down her face. "I looked at the calendar in our room, and I noticed the date that it said." She started to cry even harder. "That's when I realized that I was late!"

"You realized you were…" Sakura said, voice trailing off. Then realization struck her like a slap to the face. "Hinata, you're…" Hinata didn't say a word. She just looked at Sakura with tear filled eyes and nodded. "Oh Hinata…" Sakura hugged Hinata with a friendly and comforting hug, letting Hinata cry as much as she needed to. The realization that Sakura had had was that Hinata was pregnant.

She was going to have a baby.


	13. Chapter 13

Sakura and Hinata sat in the bathroom for a little while, Hinata crying and Sakura trying her best to comfort her.

After a little bit, Sakura said, "Hinata, c'mon now, you have to pull yourself together." Pushing her friend away until she was at arm's length, Sakura then said, "You're stronger than this."

Wiping away the tears from her eyes and face, Hinata said, "I know that you're right Sakura." Looking Sakura in the eyes, she said, "But what do I do? How am I supposed to tell Naruto? And what will I do if he leaves because of it? I can't even bear the thought of it." She started to tear up again.

"Hey now," Sakura said. "Calm down. Naruto wouldn't do that. You and I both know that he can be a little immature at times, but have you ever known him to run away from something?" Hinata looked at her for a minute, and then shook her head. "Exactly, so there's nothing to worry about."

"I know, but I don't want to tell him yet," Hinata said, bringing her right hand to her mouth and shaking her head at the same time. "Even if he does handle the news well, I don't want him to worry about me."

"Okay then," Sakura said. "We won't tell him yet. For now, it'll be a secret between us girls. But Hinata, he's going to notice eventually, so you have to tell him either before then or when he finally does." Hinata nodded with a smile on her face, and Sakura said, "Good, now let's get back. They're probably wondering why we're taking so long."

"Okay," Hinata said. After that, the two girls walked out of the bathroom, and back to their boyfriends, one of them carrying the most precious of secrets.

* * *

"Gaara, what do you think of this outfit?" Temari asked Itachi, who was really embarrassed. They were in the women's section of the store. Temari had decided to do some shopping in their spare time, and had insisted on dragging Itachi and Kankuro along with her. Kankuro had already run off.

"It looks fine," Itachi said, barely looking at her, but Temari squealed with excitement just the same. Then Itachi thought, "I thought this girl suspected me at first, but now I've come to realize that she is always like this. How Gaara puts up with it is beyond me." Shaking his head, he then thought, "Anyway, this is taking too long. It's been two weeks already, and I haven't been able to get anywhere remotely close to Naruto. I have to do it soon, or I might be discovered."

Just then, he noticed Naruto, Hinata, Sakura and Sasuke walk into the store. Hinata was holding onto Naruto's arm like he was going to leave if she didn't. It was at this time that Itachi had a revelation.

"Dammit, I've been so stupid," he thought to himself. He smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand and thought, "I don't have to get close to him. I need a way that will make him come to me." He stared at Hinata and Naruto with the intensity to burn a whole through them. "And I think I know just how I'm going to do it." He laughed for a minute, but then stopped when Temari came out in such a skimpy outfit that his nose started to bleed.

* * *

Gaara and Tokiko were kissing again in a new hiding place of many. Kisame was away, and Gaara was still tied to a tree, but he didn't seem to mind. He was still enjoying it. The two of them parted, and Tokiko said, "Gaara, it's time that the two of us got out of here."

"The two of us? Won't they come after you if you help me?" Gaara asked.

"Yes, but I don't care," Tokiko said taking a kunai from her belt and cutting his ropes. "I want to go with you regardless." Putting her arms around his neck, she said, "I love you Gaara, and I would even give up my life for you."

"Funny, cause a few weeks ago, you hated my guts," Gaara said with a smirk.

"Aw, c'mon Gaara, you know that isn't fair," Tokiko said. She was about to say something else, but Gaara kissed her out of nowhere, and she was quiet again.

"Okay, if that's how you really feel," Gaara said. "But I won't be able to protect you until the suppressant holding Shukaku wears off."

"Then I think you should give me your arm," Tokiko said. Gaara gave her his arm, and she stuck a needle containing a black liquid into it. As soon as she pulled the needle from his arm, the sand in his gourd started to move to his will.

"You made an antidote," Gaara said. "Thank you."

"Anything for my honey," Tokiko said. She giggled a little when she did. With that, the two of them jumped to the nearest tree, and then jumped away, heading for the town that Naruto and the others were in, which was a few hours away.

* * *

"Naruto, I think you need to talk to Hinata," Sakura said to him. It was later in the day, and she, Sasuke, and Naruto were still at the store. Hinata had gone back to the inn to lay down while the others finished up their day shopping.

"Why, is something wrong?" Naruto asked in a concerned voice.

"No, nothing's wrong," Sakura said. "I just think that you need to talk to her. She isn't acting like herself." Then she thought to herself, "I know that I should tell him, but I promised Hinata that I wouldn't."

"I noticed," Naruto said. Then he thought to himself, "There must be something wrong, or she knows something that I don't. Otherwise, She wouldn't be saying something like this."

"Sakura does have a point," Sasuke said. "Maybe you should talk to her."

"Stop worrying about it," Naruto said. "I'll see you guys later." Turning and heading in the other direction, he waved bye to them and walked off, leaving the couple by themselves.

"God, I wish those two would stop butting into my business," Naruto thought. "I had planned on talking to her anyway. I want to know why she's been avoiding me."

"**Boy, I figured that it would be obvious by now**," said a voice in his head.

"What do you want Kyuubi?" Naruto said to the fox. He didn't feel like dealing with the fox demon right at this moment.

"**Man, you are denser than I thought, at least if you haven't figured this out yet,**" Kyuubi said, taunting Naruto even more.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto nearly shouted in his head. His patience with Kyuubi was starting to wear very thin.

"**Think about it brat**," Kyuubi said in a calm voice. "**She's avoiding you, she's rushing off on her own many times a day, and she's not around in the middle of the night, and when she does come back, she smells like she's been eating sweet food**."

Naruto was about to yell at the fox again, when he stopped. Kyuubi did have a point. Where the heck was she going all those times in a day? It's like she was trying to hide something from him. And in the middle of the night, she leaves the room and comes back smelling like sweets. Was she craving sweets? He thought, "Why would she be…?" Then the answer hit him like a ton of bricks.

"**Ah, finally figured it out, did you**?" Kyuubi asked, chuckling a little. "**I wondered how long it was going to take you**."

"I think I need to sit down," Naruto thought. Finding the nearest bench, he sat down and placed his head between his hands.

"**It really shouldn't be any surprise**," Kyuubi said. "**You two have been together in bed for the last couple of weeks, so it was bound to happen eventually**."

"Will you shut up?!" Naruto screamed in his head. "I'm trying to think."

Kyuubi didn't say another word after that. Naruto sat on the bench for a while.

Finally, a thought popped into his head. "I-I'm… I'm going to be a dad." The thought washed over him like a refreshing summer rain did to the land. "Me, a dad." Getting up from the bench, he ran off, blowing past Sakura and Sasuke, and toward the other end of the store.

* * *

Hinata was lying on the bed in her room at the inn. She was staring up at the ceiling with one hand behind her bed, and the other hand over her stomach. She was being plagued with anxiety and worry over what she should do.

"What am I going to do," she thought out loud. "I know that I have to tell Naruto about it, but what will I do if he leaves? I don't think that my heart could bear it." She brought the hand on her stomach up to her chest and squeezed the fabric of her clothes, responding to the pain that was in her heart from the mere thought of Naruto leaving. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" Hinata responded, sitting up on the bed.

"It's me," Naruto said from behind the door. He opened the door and walked inside.

"Naruto, you don't have to knock. We're sharing this room," Hinata said.

"I know, but I wanted to make sure you were decent before I came in," Naruto said.

"Why," Hinata asked. "It's not like you haven't seen me naked before." Hinata may have said this easily enough, but she was uneasy. She could tell that something was up. Naruto was acting weird, and saying things that didn't make sense.

"Listen, Hinata, we need to talk," Naruto said, taking a seat next to her on the bed. Now Hinata was sure that something was wrong. Naruto never said anything like that. To the two of them, their actions spoke louder than their words. However, Hinata merely looked at him and said, "Okay." Then she was quiet, and stared at him for a minute before he decided to speak.

"Listen Hinata," Naruto started. He was looking at the floor while he talked, his eyes hidden in a shadow. "I know."

"You know?" Hinata said, trying her best to hide the worry in her voice.

"Uh huh," Naruto said, now looking her in the eyes. "I know that you're pregnant. Kyuubi helped me figure it out."

Hinata didn't say a word. Instead, she broke down and started to cry. Naruto scooted closer to her on the bed. Hinata had her hands at her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and asked, "Hinata, why didn't you tell me?" His voice was full of compassion and concern when he asked this.

"Be-because… because I was scared," Hinata said, starting to cry even harder.

"Scared? What was there to be scared of?" Naruto asked, hand still on her shoulder.

"I-I… I thought… I thought if I told you that you would leave me," Hinata said, crying the hardest that she had ever cried. Naruto sat there for a minute and let her cry, a sad look on his face. After he let her cry for a minute, he wrapped his arms around her.

"Naruto…"Hinata said, a surprised expression on her face.

"Hinata, I promised myself that I would protect you, no matter what happens," Naruto said as he hugged her. Squeezing her even tighter, he said "And I never go back on any promise." He placed his hand on her stomach while they hugged and said, "Now I make a new promise. I promise to protect you and this child for as long as I live."

"Naruto…" Hinata thought, hugging him back. Then, pushing him out to arms length, she looked at him with teary eyes and asked, "Are you sure that you want to stay with me?"

"Of course I'm sure," Naruto said with a soft smile. Pulling something from his back pocket, he said, "If I wasn't sure, then I wouldn't have bought this." He held up the thing to show it to her, and Hinata gasped.

Naruto was holding a ring. The band was made of white gold and a small diamond was sitting on it.

"Naruto… is that…?" Hinata asked.

"Yes it is," Naruto said. "I had wanted to wait to ask you, just to make sure if this was what I wanted, but now I'm positive that I want this for us." Getting down on one knee in front of Hinata, he asked, "Hinata, will you marry me?"

"N-Naruto… I… I…" Hinata stuttered. She was at a loss for words. Finally, she had an answer. "Yes! Yes I will!"

They embraced, holding each other tenderly, wishing that the moment could last forever.

"Nothing in the world could spoil this moment now," they both thought as the hugged each other tightly. "Nothing."

The two of them were wrong though. Suddenly, the wall was crashed inward. Itachi stood there, still disguised as Gaara, a kunai knife in his one hand.

"Gaara, what are you-?" Naruto started to say, but he was cut short. Itachi, moving with unnatural speed, got behind Naruto and jabbed him in the neck. Naruto fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Naruto!" Hinata screamed. A moment later though, Itachi did the same to her, except that he caught her in his arm and swung her over his shoulder. He dropped his disguise, returning to his normal self, and left a note on the floor next to Naruto. Then he jumped out through the hole in the wall.

"The power of the nine tailed fox shall be mine," Itachi thought as he jumped across the rooftops, heading for the forest. "And this girl will help me get it. Naruto will come for her, and then the power shall be all mine." Taking off even faster, he ran to the woods, already planning on how to kill Naruto.


	14. Chapter 14

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted as he pounded on the door to Naruto and Hinata's room. "Naruto, what the hell was that noise? It sounded like the wall exploded!" Boy, did he have no idea just how close he was to guessing right.

"Just break down the door already!" Sakura shouted in his ear. "Never mind, I'll do it." She pushed Sasuke out of the way, and then she punched the door. The door splintered under her fist, and their way was clear.

"Sakura, I think that you've been training with Tsunade too much," Sasuke said as he rushed in through the doorway. He gasped when he saw the scene. Naruto sprawled out on the floor, pieces of stone and mortar lying around him like useless pieces of trash that had been tossed aside.

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, rushing to his side. She checked his pulse. "He's still alive!" she exclaimed to Sasuke. She took some smelling salts from her case, broke it and started waving it in front of Naruto's nose. Sasuke though, was staring at the hole in the wall.

"What the hell did this?" Sasuke wondered as he stared at the hole, and as Naruto started to stir. Then he noticed the note that Itachi had left on the floor. Picking it up. He read it over and thought, "Dammit. It's him."

"Dammit, Gaara is going to pay!" Naruto was up and he sounded pissed off. Before Sasuke could even get a word out, Naruto was out the door of the room. Meanwhile, at the front door of the inn, Gaara and Tokiko had just shown up. Temari and Kankuro greeted them as they ran through the door.

"Gaara, who's your friend?" Temari asked, but Gaara didn't answer. Instead, he started asking his own questions.

"Where's Naruto?" he asked, grabbing onto her shoulders. "I've got to find him now. It's important!"

Temari was about to say something when a fist shot past her face and hit Gaara in his. He flew back through the door, and was caught by the sand in his gourd before he could hit the ground. Naruto ran towards him, ready to hit him again, but he was caught by the sand first, and Gaara wrapped him up so tight that he wasn't able to move. "Why did you hit me?" Gaara asked calmly.

"I think we can explain that," Sasuke said. He had just come from Naruto's room, and he was still holding Itachi's note. Gaara read the note, and held it up for Naruto to read it, though Gaara kept him bound in sand until he finished.

"Heh heh," Naruto laughed a little when he finished. "Oops. Sorry Gaara. So, how long has Itachi been impersonating you?"

Gaara answered Naruto's question after he left him down, and went on to explain what had happened during that time. He even when as far as to introduce Tokiko to them at the time, and went on to say that she was his girlfriend.

"Oh, it's about time little bro," Kankuro said, giving Gaara the biggest noogie of his life. Gaara punched him of course, and sent him flying. Temari hugged her little brother, congratulating him. He looked a little annoyed, but he restrained himself.

"Dammit, we don't have time for this!" Naruto was still very pissed off. "He has Hinata, and I'm going after him."

"Hold on Naruto," Sasuke said. "The note may tell you where they're hiding, but don't you think that you might be running into a trap?"

"Of course I know that it's a trap!" Naruto shouted. "But I don't care! It doesn't matter what happens with me, just as long as Hinata is safe."

Sasuke just stared at him for a minute and thought, "He's as bad as me. I would do the same thing if it were Sakura." Stepping toward his friend, he said, "Fine, then I'm going with you."

"Sasuke, this is my fight, not yours," Naruto said as he stared at his friend.

"Hey, if I want to avenge my clan, then I have to go with you," Sasuke said. "Besides, we have a better chance of beating him together."

Naruto stared at him for a few seconds and then smiled. "Right," he said, and then he and Sasuke bumped fists. Just at that moment, Tokiko walked up to them.

"Do the two of you really intend to take on master Itachi?" She asked, looking from Naruto to Sasuke. The both of them nodded. "Then please hold out your arms. There is something that you are going to need."

The two bys looked puzzled for a second, but they held up their arms anyway. Faster than they could see, she stuck a small syringe full of red liquid into their arms and pressed down on the plungers, injecting them both.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked as he and Sasuke pulled their arms away.

"Did I forget to tell you guys that she has a Kekkai Genkai?" Gaara asked as he placed his arm around Tokiko's shoulder. "Because I'm pretty sure that was her blood in those needles."

"Her blood?" Sasuke asked with a puzzled expression. Then the realization hit him. "Then she just…"

"Yes," Tokiko said nodding. "You two will need all the help you can get if you want to defeat Itachi." She then showed them what her power was, and told them how it was controlled.

"Guys," Sakura said to both Naruto and Sasuke, who were both holding small balls of fire in their hands. Gaara and the rest of the group was standing behind her, looking ready to fight. "We're coming with you."

"What?! No way!" Sasuke said. "I don't want any of you in danger because of us."

"Somebody has to fight Kisame," Temari said, strapping her giant fan to her back.

"That's right," Kankuro said, also strapping his puppets to his back. "And if not us, then who else."

Naruto and Sasuke looked like they wanted to argue some more, but they just said, "All right. Fine." Then the group took off towards the woods, heading for the location that was given on the map. They traveled for over an hour and still kept going.

"We should be getting close to the place now," Tokiko said. She was leading them to the location, mainly because she knew the entire layout of the land, giving the group an edge that they hadn't had before.

"Good. When we finally get there, I can… Aw hell, look out!" Naruto jumped out of the way, and the rest of the group followed, barely being missed by a large amount of kunai knives and shuriken. They didn't have to look for long to find the source. Kisame jumped out onto the nearest branch, swinging his giant sword, Sharkskin.

"Well, well, well," Kisame said, setting the giant sword on his shoulder. "Looks like I'm running interception." Kisame took Sharkskin from his shoulder and said, "Good! More blood and Chakra for Sharkskin to feast on!" Kisame came at them, a crazed look in his eyes. He swung for the first person in range, which just happened to be Tokiko. She screamed as the sword came down on her. The sword never connected though. Gaara's sand blocked the sword as he swung down.

'Get going you guys," Gaara said to Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.

"Yeah," Kankuro said. "We can handle this guy."

Sakura and Sasuke took off immediately, but Naruto stayed behind for a second. He gave a warning to Gaara and the rest. "You guys had better not die."

"Wouldn't think of it," Gaara said, cracking a smile. Naruto took off after the other two, catching up to them almost instantly. Before long, they arrived at the place indicated in the letter. Itachi stood in the middle of a clearing, and Hinata was tied to the trunk of the nearest tree, still unconscious.

"I knew you would come," Itachi said. "You can take the girl back, but Naruto stays here."

"Sakura, cut Hinata down," Sasuke said. Sakura took Hinata from the tree, bringing her back to the boys. She was about to set her down, when Sasuke said, "Now I want you to leave. It's too dangerous for you guys here."

Sakura looked livid. "No, I'm staying with…" Sasuke appeared in front of her almost instantly and cut her off.

"Sakura, please don't argue," he said as he pressed a finger over her lips. "You know very well that I'm right." Going even closer to her, he put a hand on her stomach and said, "Besides, you and Hinata both carry a precious gift in you. I don't want anything to happen to you or that gift, and I'm sure that Naruto feels the same for Hinata. So please, just go."

Sakura looked up at him and said, "Okay." She was about to leave, and then she said, "Sasuke, be careful. Both of you."

"Don't worry Sakura," Naruto said to her. "We'll come find you guys when we finish. That's a promise. And remember, I never go back on my promises." Sakura just stared at him for a second, then smiled and took off the way they came from.

Sasuke walked over to stand next to Naruto, who asked, "So, how long has Sakura been pregnant?"

"About a week," Sasuke said taking a few kunai knives from his belt. "What about Hinata?"

"I would have to say that it's been about the same," Naruto said. 'Hey, our kids might just share a birthday."

"Then let's survive this, so that we can see them born," Sasuke said.

"Have you two come to terms with death?" Itachi said.

"Sorry, but we don't plan on dying today," Naruto said. Then to Sasuke he whispered, "When you killed Orochimaru, did that curse mark happen to stick around?"

"Oh yeah," Sasuke said. "It stuck around and it changed. It's no curse mark anymore though. It's become a sacred mark."

"Hmm, that'll be something to see, now let's get ready," Naruto said. Taking a stance, he started to summon up the fox's chakra. As he did, his face changed, taking on the familiar red eyes, pointed teeth, and stripes on his cheeks. But then something else happened. Naruto's hair started to change, turning from blonde to red in about ten seconds. Claws grew on his hands and feet, and finally, nine bushy, red furred tails sprouted from his lower back, each of them swishing the air like a fan being waved slowly. Looking over at Sasuke, he asked, "Ready?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said. He had summoned up the mark, but it was not like it had been all those years ago when they fought. Instead of black, Sasuke's hair and skin had turned almost pure white, like the first snow of winter. His Sharingan eyes weren't red any more, but had become the purest shade of sky blue. Finally, from his shoulder blades sprouted a pair of wings, each of them as white as his hair. Altogether, he looked like angel sent from heaven.

"Nice look for you," Naruto said facing Itachi, who was looking thunderstruck.

"Same to you," Sasuke said, also facing forward. "Now, let's kill this bastard!' The two of them rushed Itachi, moving almost too fast for even him to see. The struck at him, but he dodged them by less than a millimeter. Jumping out of the way, Itachi rushed away, matching their speed.

"This will not be as easy as I thought," Itachi thought. "I had heard the rumors, but this is beyond what I was expecting. They are really demons." He was reaching for a kunai in his coat when Naruto appeared in front of him. "What!?" he thought, eyes opening in surprise. Naruto swiped at him with a clawed hand, but he dodged again, and barely dodged Sasuke, who had come up behind him. Now he had the two of them in his sights.

Forming several hand signs, he said, "Dragon Flame jutsu." He unleashed the fire at them, and instantly turning many of the surrounding trees to ashes.

"Nothing could survive that," he thought. In the direction that he had unleashed the attack though, he heard a chirping noise. "That's not possible," he thought looking back in the direction of his previous attack. Out of nowhere, Sasuke appeared, Chidori blazing on his arm. Itachi dodged again, and Sasuke flew past, Chidori taking out twelve or thirteen trees as he flew past.

"Wait a minute," Itachi thought as he looked around. "Where's Naruto?"

"Looking for me?" a voice asked from above him. Looking up, Itachi saw Naruto coming down on him, Rasengan spinning in the palm of his right hand. Itachi dodge him again, but not entirely. As he dodged, the blazing ball of chakra clipped his leg.

"Dammit, this will make things difficult," Itachi thought. And it did. The fight went on for a long time, and the injury to his leg made Itachi falter. He got in a few good hits on the both of them, but it did not matter. The wounds healed almost instantly on each of them, and Itachi was growing more tired by the second. Finally, they all stopped. Itachi face the two of them, out of breath and holding onto his side where Sasuke had hit him earlier. However, Naruto and Sasuke looked the same as they had when the fight started.

"Sasuke, I think that it's time we finish this," Naruto said as he formed some hand signs and a black ghost dragon appeared around him.

"I think you're right," Sasuke said. He was making the same hand signs as Naruto, but a white dragon swirled around him instead of a black one.

"That jutsu!" Itachi recognized it, for he had seen the fourth Hokage use the same thing many years ago.

A black twister formed around Naruto, and a white one formed around Sasuke. Itachi stood his ground though, barely moving from the spot.

"They mean to defeat me with this? Ha. They won't succeed," Itachi thought. But then he something, inside both of the twisters, the boys jumped up, allowing themselves to be sucked into the swirling winds. "What?!" Itachi thought.

Inside the twister, both Naruto and Sasuke were thinking the same thing. "Let's put our new power to some use." The both performed a small fire jutsu, but it was enough. Using the fire that was produced, they enhanced it with the power that Tokiko gave them. The fire changed color for each of them, Naruto's turning black, and Sasuke's turned white. They then kept the fire going, mixing it with the twisters, while each of them summoned their attacks Rasengan and Chidori. They continued to manipulate the fire as they both made their way to the top of their twisters, where the head of a dragon appeared on the end of both, each of them made from fire. Itachi watched the whole thing from the ground with a feeling of fear and terror that he hadn't experienced in a long time.

Naruto reached the mouth of his dragon, and shouted, "Black Fire Rasengan Dragon!" while Sasuke reached his and shouted, "White Fire Chidori Dragon!"

It was truly a sight to behold. Two dragons, both of the extending hundred of feet in the air, one made of black fire, the other of white, able to be seen from several miles away, Naruto and Sasuke in the mouth of one of them.

"My God…" Temari said as she wiped the sweat and blood from her forehead. "Do you guys see that?"

Gaara sat on a branch above the broken and bloody body of Kisame. Tokiko was in his arms, also looking at the spectacle before their eyes.

"Yeah, we see it," Kankuro said. "Hard to miss them."

"Those two," Tokiko said as she stared at the dragons. "Such great control after so little time. And so powerful."

"I used to think that I could beat them in a fight," Gaara said with gleaming eyes. "Now I say different. If I fought either of then now, I would die." He continued to watch the amazing sight, thinking of the enormous power that Naruto and Sasuke must have possessed.

Back at the fight, Naruto looked over to Sasuke and shouted, "Lets do it!" Sasuke nodded, and the two of them swung their arms. The dragons descended on Itachi, taking Naruto's Rasengan and Sasuke's Chidori attacks with them. Itachi didn't even try to dodge. He knew that he couldn't. The dragons hit him head on.

"So this is it," Itachi thought as his body was propelled into the air. "Funny, it doesn't even hurt." The fire of each dragon burned so hot that none of his nerves survived. They burned away instantly. As he burned away, he thought, " Naruto, Sasuke, thank you. I have felt such guilt for all these years over what I did. I wished that this moment could have come sooner. So again I say, Thank You." This was the last thought that he ever had. Closing his eyes, he accepted his fate, and his body burned away to ash, and Itachi disappeared forever into the wind.


	15. Chapter 15

TWO MONTHS LATER…

The village of Konoha was a quiet place on this day. This was because many of its inhabitants were all heading to one place. That place was a small chapel on the one side of the village. Everybody was wearing nice clothes, and all of them shared the same happy expression, making it clearly evident of what was happening. Somebody was getting married. Inside, people were moving around, trying to find a seat. At the front of the chapel, large arrangements of pink and purple lilies were spread around, giving off the sweetest smell imaginable. In the back of the chapel, the bride's maids were in the dressing rooms changing into either pink or purple dresses. Temari, Tokiko, Tenten, and Ino were among them.

"I still can't believe this is happening," Ino said as she tied her back. "Who would have thought that they would be getting married this early in their lives?"

"Oh c'mon," Tenten said, putting a few hair clips in her hair. "You knew this day was going to come for a long time. It's just came a little earlier than we expected it to."

"She's right you know," Anko said from across the room. She was putting on a purple dress and letting her hair down. "This would have happened anyway." Smiling a wide smile, she said, "These guys would have done this anyway, so they're getting it out of the way early. Now I just wish that Kakashi would ask me to marry him already." She started to curse under her breath after that. Kurenai was there too, changing into her dress while a drop of sweat appeared on the back of her head. She had been thinking the same thing about Asuma.

"I still can't believe that they asked you to be the maid of honor Tokiko," Temari said as she pulled her dress up. She and the other girls had become good friends with Tokiko since she had come to Konoha. Tokiko just smiled a little bit and continued to get dressed.

"What even more surprising is that the guys asked Gaara to be their best man," Ino said, now spraying on a little perfume. "And he actually said yes!"

"I know," Tokiko spoke up. "I'm his girlfriend, and even I can't believe that he said yes." At that point all the girls looked at each other and giggled. There was a knock at the door and all the girls, still giggling, said, "Come in." The door opened, and in walked Hinata and Sakura, both of them looking beautiful in dresses of pure white.

"You guys will never change," Sakura said with a smile. Hinata smiled too, bringing a new spark of radiance to the room.

"Oh, you two look so beautiful," Tenten said with gleaming eyes. "Oh I'm so excited! I can't believe that this is happening! You guys are getting married!" She broke down and grabbed Hinata's hand started to dance with her.

"Hey, careful Tenten," Hinata said, slightly alarmed. "Remember, Sakura and I are both two months pregnant."

"Sorry," Tenten said quickly. She let go and controlled herself.

"That's what's even more unbelievable," Ino said as she looked at her two best friends. "Both of you are pregnant, and neither one of you look any different. You must be the luckiest girls in the world."

"We know," Hinata and Sakura said together. This made them all start giggling.

Meanwhile, in another part of the chapel, Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, and the rest of the guys were hanging out, all of them looking dashing in their tuxedos.

"Man, wearing this suit is such a drag," Shikamaru said as he pulled at his collar.

"Exactly," Naruto said, pulling at his collar too. Then he smiled and said, "It's worth it though."

"I would certainly hope so," Neji said from his position against the wall. Then he looked at Naruto and Sasuke and said, "You guys will be together with Sakura and Hinata for the rest of your lives. Do you really want that?"

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, and then looked at Neji like he was crazy and said, "Of course were sure! If we weren't, do you really think we'd be here?"

The guys looked at them for a second, and then all of them burst out laughing. Even Gaara managed to laugh a little.

"Now seeing Gaara laugh is creepy," Kiba said. All of them looked at Kiba, and laughed out loud. Gaara just glared at him though.

"Well, doesn't it sound like everybody is having fun," a voice said from the doorway into the room. Hiashi Hyuuga was at the door, dressed in the finest black tuxedo, and Hinata's little sister Hanabi was standing behind him, wearing a dress the same color as her eyes.

"Lord Hiashi," Neji said, standing up straight and taking a bow. Coming out of the bow, he asked, "What brings you here sir?"

"I'm here because I need to have a word with Naruto," Hiashi said in a slightly cheerful voice. "Also, Sakura's parents asked me to fetch Sasuke for them." He looked down at Hanabi and said," Hanabi, I want you to stay with Neji for now, okay?" Hanabi didn't say anything, but she nodded and went over to stand with Neji, ducking behind him as she did. The girl may have been thirteen years old, but she was very shy. Hiashi left the room, and Naruto and Sasuke followed him out.

They reached an empty part of the church and Hiashi pointed Sasuke in the direction of Sakura's parents. Sasuke left, and Naruto and Hiashi were left alone to talk.

"Naruto, I'm sure that many people have already asked you if you are sure about this," Hiashi said. "I'm also sure that the same can be said for Sasuke. I don't have to ask you though." Hiashi stared at Naruto with the utmost intensity. "I just have to look into your eyes, and I can see the answer. Because of the answer that I see in your eyes, I just have to say one thing."

Naruto didn't say a single word. He just stood there and stared at Hiashi with the intensity to burn a hole in him.

"Naruto, I have waited for this day for a long time. The day that I would give my daughter away to the man I thought was worthy of being her husband." Hiashi had a very serious look in his eyes as he spoke. "Naruto, you are the man that I see fit to marry her. You are also the man who has helped provide my first grandchild, but know this. If you ever do anything to hurt her in any way, then I promise you that I will kill you myself."

Naruto didn't say anything at first, and then he said, in a very serious tone, "Hiashi, if I did anything to hurt her, then I would kill myself for it. It will never happen, I promise. And I never go back on a promise."

Hiashi didn't say anything for a few minutes. He stood there and stared at Naruto with the blankest stare ever. Then he smiled and said, "I'm glad that Hinata chose you Naruto, because she chose right when she chose you." He held out his hand and added, "Son."

Naruto grasped the hand, shook it and said, "That means the world coming from you." He paused for a minute and said, "Dad."

* * *

The wedding went off without a hitch. The couples were married at the same time, and everyone in the chapel stared in awe of the two girls and how beautiful they were. Gaara had carried both sets of rings, and many of the people were surprised by the fact that he participated at all.

When it was time to throw the bouquets, everyone gathered in anticipation. Tokiko and Tenten both caught one of them, and then looked at Gaara and Neji expectantly. Both of them blushed profusely, making them look like their faces had been covered in cherry red paint.

When the last part of the ceremony ended, Sasuke yelled out to the crowd, "Hey everyone! Reception at my place later!" The crowd cheered, and a little while later, that same crowd was at the main Uchiha house, and they were all having a great time.

Tokiko had actually been able to drag Gaara out onto the dance floor. And gotten him to dance, at least for little bit.

Neji and Tenten were dancing in the middle of the floor, and Neji impressed everybody with how well he could dance, especially when it came to spinning.

Shikamaru and Ino sat off to one side for most of the night, but they were both to busy to care at that point.

Finally, the new married couples were dancing with members of their new families, Naruto with Hinata's mother, and Hinata with her father, and Sakura was dancing with her father while Sasuke danced with her mother. The guys could see where their wives got their good looks from.

Later, the party was still going strong, but things had quieted down a little. Couples were slow dancing on the floor. At the head table, Naruto and Sasuke were sitting their talking while Hinata and Sakura were off talking with their friends.

"Man, we must be the luckiest guys in the world," Sasuke said as he stared at his beautiful bride across the room. His cheeks were a little red, and a cup of sake was sitting in front of him.

"You really think you need to tell me that," Naruto said, his cheeks also a little rosy. "That is the most obvious thing that I have ever heard."

"He's right you know," said a voice from behind them. The two of them turned around to see Tsunade standing there.

"Hey Granny Tsunade," Naruto said with a smile. "What's going on?"

"I told you not to call me Granny," Tsunade said, a vein throbbing on her temple, which quickly disappeared. "Anyway, I have an announcement to make and it involves the two of you."

The two of them stared at her for a minute, and then said, "Okay." Sasuke took up one of the crystal glasses on the tale and tapped it with his spoon. Everybody looked at him and he said, "Attention everybody. Lady Tsunade has something to say."

"What could this be about?" Hinata asked Sakura, who shrugged.

"As you all know," Tsunade started, speaking out to the entire crowd. "This is a happy day for these four." She indicated Naruto Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata. "Now I have a way to make it even better." She glanced at Naruto and Sasuke, who were giving her their undivided attention. "It's time for me to pass the torch to someone younger, and I couldn't think of two better people."

"What the heck is she talking about?" Shikamaru asked. He had parted lips with Ino long enough to listen.

"Good question," Ino said with a raised eyebrow.

"You guys don't get it?" Neji asked. "Tenten, maybe you should tell them."

Tenten bent down and whispered into Shikamaru's ear. His eyebrows raised in shock and surprise. He leaned over and repeated what he was told into Ino's ear. She almost didn't believe what she had heard. Meanwhile, back on stage, Tsunade was finishing up.

Placing her right hand on Naruto's shoulder, and her left on Sasuke's, she said, "It gives me great pleasure to name these two…" She looked at Naruto. "The sixth…" Then she looked at Sasuke. "…and the seventh Hokages!"

Half the people in the audience couldn't believe what they had heard. The shock didn't last very long. After a little bit, everybody started clapping and cheering, bringing an end to the best day that any of them had ever had.

* * *

The months after the wedding seemed to move by rather slowly for both the girls and for their husbands. Naruto and Sasuke were still adjusting to their new roles in the village. Everywhere that they went, people greeted them with the utmost respect and admiration. They continually had to remind younger women that they were married too, for they swooned every time one of them walked past.

Things were going differently for Hinata and Sakura as well. The two of them had started to show in the stomach area, while they stayed thin in every other aspect.

"How is it that the two of you stay so good looking despite the fact you're pregnant?" Ino asked the two of them. They were spending the day out with the girls, and each of them was about four and a half months pregnant.

"If we had an answer for you Ino, we would be more than happy to give it." Sakura sounded a bit tense, but she stayed calm.

"Hey, how far along are you guys again?" Tenten asked, eyeing both of their stomachs.

"Were both at about four to five months," Hinata answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you both look too big for it to be that little amount of time," Tenten said.

"Maybe you guys should go see your doctors? We'll even come along with you."

After that, they all headed for the doctor's office, just to be sure that nothing was wrong.

That night, Naruto and Sasuke got home early. They had spent most of the day doing paperwork with Tsunade.

"I'm starting to think that she made us the next two Hokages just to get help with her paperwork." Naruto sounded very annoyed. He and Sasuke walked into the kitchen, and noticed that Sakura and Hinata were sitting at the table. Both of them looked pretty happy.

"Hey, you guys are back early," Sasuke said. He and Naruto had both gone over to kiss their wives on the cheek. Sasuke was now at the sink, getting a glass of water. "We thought you would still be out with the girls."

"We were," Hinata said. "But while we were out, the girls got concerned about us and went to the doctor's office with us. When we finished up, the girls decided to head home, and we had some really big news."

"Is that why you guys have those smiles on your face?" Naruto asked. He was peeling an apple for Hinata at the moment. "So, what's the big news?"

"Well," Sakura started. "When we got to the office, we had an ultrasound done first. There was something on the image that we weren't expecting." The guys were at each of their sides instantly.

"What was it? Was something wrong?" They asked their questions in unison, both of their eyes nearly popping out of their heads.

"No, nothing was wrong," Sakura said. Naruto and Sasuke looked relieved, and then they got up and went back to what they were doing. Sasuke was taking another drink, and Naruto was getting a plate for the apple when Hinata spoke up.

"There were two heartbeats on the monitor. For both of us," Hinata said slowly. The plate that Naruto was holding crashed to the floor, and Sasuke did a spit take, spraying water halfway across the room.

"You mean that you're both…" Naruto said, his voice trailing off. He stared at Hinata, waiting for her to answer.

Neither Hinata nor Sakura said anything for a minute. Then Hinata looked at Naruto, tears of happiness brimming in her eyes. "Uh huh," she said. "We're both having twins."

"Oh Hinata…" Naruto walked over and hugged her tightly. Sasuke did the same thing with Sakura. They stayed like that for a long time, the girls crying happy tears in their husband's arms.

* * *

The months continued to pass relatively slowly for the two married couples. The guys grew busier and busier, their new duties as Hokage nearly taking over. The girls grew a little moodier also, their hormones kicking in greatly as their pregnancies progressed. They had continuous sweet cravings, and everything that was sweet in the house disappeared. They cried a lot, and they wanted to keep to themselves most of the time. They still spent time with their husbands, but sometimes when the guys approached, all hell would seem to break loose. The girls apologized later, but the guys knew to avoid the girls when they were like that.

The months continued to pass, until one day in the nine month. Naruto and Sasuke had been given an S ranked assignment to take care of, and they were just coming back to the village.

"Man," Naruto said as they walked through the village entrance. "These missions are getting easier and easier. It's boring!"

"Well, what did you expect?" Sasuke asked. "We weren't made the 6th and 7th Hokages for nothing. My brother was one of the strongest around, and since we got rid of him, nobody has been able to challenge us."

"I know," Naruto said, a little disappointed. "Hey let's hurry up. The girls are probably waiting for us." They were about to take off when Shikamaru and Neji showed up. "Hey guys, what's up?"

The two of them were nearly out of breath. "Where have you guys been?" Shikamaru asked "We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Why?" Sasuke asked. "What's going on?"

"We were all visiting Lady Hinata and Sakura when they…" Neji said, his voice trailing off. "Guys… they both went into labor. Ino and Tenten rushed them to the hospital, while we rushed off to find you two and Lord Hiashi."

"They're in the hospital?!" Naruto said, sounding very alarmed. "Damn it, why didn't you say something sooner." He transformed into his demon form and Sasuke turned into his.

"Guys, isn't that a little much to get to the hospital?" Shikamaru asked, looking a little shocked at the transformations.

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke said anything. Sasuke spread his snow white wings and took to the air, while Naruto got on all fours and took off. They moved so fast that not even the best ninja could have seen them. The ground cracked as Naruto ran, and Sasuke caused the air to burn because of the friction. They reached the hospital in a matter of seconds and rushed in, past the receptionist, and towards the maternity word.

They reached the main waiting room, where Ino, Tenten, and Hiashi were waiting.

"How are they," the both of them asked as they walked in.

"We're not sure yet," Hiashi said as he watched them transform back into their normal selves.

"They were doing fine when we brought them in, but we haven't heard anything yet," Ino said, going to meet them.

"Damn, if only we had been there," Sasuke said as he hit the wall, now his normal self.

"You guys didn't know," Tenten said. "Right now, the best thing you can do is be patient."

This was easier said than done. The guys were antsy. They paced the room for the entire time that they were there. After an hour of waiting, Tsunade came out, pulling off a mask and gloves.

"Naruto, Sasuke…" she said looking at the two of them. "Would you like to meet your children?"

The guys followed her into the ward, to the room where Hinata and Sakura were. The girls were sharing the same room. They were in parallel beds, each of them holding two little, moving bundles.

Naruto walked over to Hinata, and she looked up at him. He kissed her on the forehead and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm a little tired," she said. Holding up the two bundles, she said happily, "Meet your son and daughter." Naruto looked down at the two sleeping faces of his children. The boy looked like Naruto, right down to the stripes on his cheeks, and the girl looked like Hinata. Naruto smiled, and he was filled with pride. Hinata looked at him and asked, "Would you like to hold them?" Naruto nodded, his face still beaming. As he took the kids from here, they both opened their eyes, the boy revealing dark blue eyes, and the girl revealing light purple ones.

Naruto continued to smile. He looked over at Sasuke, who was holding a boy like him, and a girl like Sakura. He had the same pride filled smile plastered across his face. After a while, Tsunade and her assistant took the children to the nursery, leaving the new fathers alone with their wives.

"Hinata, you are the most wonderful person in the world," Naruto said as he hugged her. She hugged him back, still enjoying the feel of his muscles.

"Naruto, you make me the happiest in the world, and now we have two children that we can share that happiness with," Hinata said, staring into his blue eyes. "I promise to be a responsible mother, and care for them like they are the only thing in this world."

"And I promise to be a father that both them and you can be proud of," Naruto said staring into her light purple eyes. "Now we've both made big promises, and I know that we'll both keep them."

"Oh Naruto…" Hinata said. Then they kissed, and they both thought ahead to the future, and the wonderful lives that they were going to have with their new children.

The End

* * *

Author's Note:

Ands that's it folks. I hoped you enjoyed it. Sorry it took me so long to get the rest of the Chapters, but finals had me busy. Anyway, there will be no sequel, so don't ask. However, i am working on several other stories at the moment, and i will try to start uploading them as soon as possible, so be on the lookout for them. Until nextime, this is Sabaku no Kyuubi signing off. Ciao.


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